Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), Fatima Umaru Shinkafi, yesterday, said revenue generated from Nigeria’s solid minerals sector has increased by more than 337 per cent in two years.

She also noted that the Federal Government is targeting a 25-fold expansion of the mining industry to about N30 trillion, equivalent to approximately $21 billion, by 2030.

Shinkafi disclosed this while delivering the keynote address titled, “Building Nigeria’s Solid Minerals Future: The Power of Academia, Government and Industry in Partnership,” in Lagos.

She said the sector recorded a real growth rate of 33.5 per cent in 2025, far outpacing Nigeria’s overall economic growth of 3.9 per cent during the same period.

She said: “The clearest proof sits in federation revenues. In 2023, this sector earned the Federation about N16 billion. In 2024, the figure rose to N38 billion.

In 2025, it crossed N70 billion. That is growth of more than 337 per cent in two years, from the same minerals and the same ground, governed differently.

“The national accounts tell the same story, in real terms, with the price effect stripped out. The sector grew 33.5 per cent in real terms in 2025, roughly nine times the overall economy’s 3.9 per cent real growth.

“Since 2023, reforms have attracted about $2.6 billion in fresh investment commitments, including a $1.3 billion, 1.5-million-tonne alumina refinery, the largest mining investment in Nigerian history. The Federal Government’s target is a 25-fold expansion of the sector to roughly N30 trillion (about $21 billion) by 2030.”

In a statement issued by the Head of Media at the SMDF, Idowu Jokpeyibo, the Fund said the impressive performance reflects the impact of reforms introduced by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, under his Seven-Point Agenda, which aims to increase the sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from less than one per cent to three per cent by 2030.

In her remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, described the partnership between academia and the SMDF as a strategic step towards translating research into national development.

She said: “The University of Lagos is proud to convene the maiden edition of this lecture series and to place our Faculty of Physical and Earth Sciences at the service of a national priority. A partnership between a research university and a sovereign fund is how knowledge becomes national wealth.”

Also speaking, the pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Physical and Earth Sciences, Prof. Olayinka Taiwo Asekun, said the lecture series was designed to strengthen collaboration between academia and industry.