Nigeria and the United States have signed a historic framework agreement to facilitate American investment in Nigeria’s mining sector, valued at an estimated $700 billion.
The agreement, signed on at Nigeria’s Mission House in New York, is designed to use government-to-government ties as a foundation for business-to-business transactions, to boost Nigeria’s value-addition-driven value chain.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and US Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, signed and exchanged the pact.
Speaking at the ceremony, Alake described the agreement as one that would shape the future of the sector.
“Some agreements manage the present, and some agreements shape the future. The framework we sign today belongs to the second kind,” Alake said.
“In signing this Framework, Nigeria and the United States affirm a shared conviction: that the supply chains for these critical minerals must be secure, resilient and built on responsible investment,” he added.
The Minister emphasized Nigeria’s ambition to move beyond exporting raw materials, stating, “We are not here to remain a source of raw material for the values that others create. Our goal is to turn potential into lasting value at home through stronger local processing, new skills, quality jobs, and new opportunities for Nigerian businesses.”
Alake noted that the framework opens the way for cooperation on geological data and exploration, mineral development and processing, infrastructure, and technical capacity.
He added that its implementation would achieve the economic diversification goals of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and boost industrial growth.
“Now comes the harder and more important work: moving from agreement to implementation. A signature is a promise, results are the proof. In the months ahead, we will identify viable projects, mobilise investments and build the commercial partnerships that deliver measurable benefits to our nations,” the minister stated.
Responding, Deputy Secretary of State Landau concurred with Nigeria’s position, adding that as Africa’s fastest-growing economy and most populous country, Nigeria is a regional power that deserves partnership with the United States.
“The signal we are sending is that the United States and Nigeria are partners,” Landau said.
He noted that the agreement would bring greater prosperity to both nations, adding, “Under President Trump and President Tinubu’s leadership, the United States and Nigeria have done many things together in the last one and a half years that we’ve never done before. I think we will like to keep building on that momentum.”
The US delegation also included Deputy Assistant Secretary for West African Affairs, Rich Michaels; Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southern Africa, Foreign Assistance and Critical Minerals, Chris Kulukundis; Senior Policy Advisor to the Deputy Secretary, Wyatt Toehlkeke; and Jitu Sardar.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Engr Yusuf Yabo, Director-General of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, Engr Simon Nkom, Executive Secretary of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Hajiya Fatima Shinkafi, and CEO of Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, Martin Imonitie, witnessed the event.
