...FG targets ₦30tn mining economy by 2030

The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), Hajiya Fatima Umaru Shinkafi, on Thursday, 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 ₦30 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 ₦16 billion. In 2024, the figure rose to ₦38 billion. In 2025, it crossed ₦70 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 ₦30 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. Henry 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.

Despite Nigeria’s vast mineral resources, Shinkafi noted that the sector has historically underperformed, even though the country possesses more than 44 commercially viable minerals across over 500 locations.

She said solid minerals currently contribute less than one per cent to the nation’s GDP, while exports from the sector stood at approximately ₦354 billion in 2025, representing about 0.4 per cent of total exports and roughly three per cent of non-oil exports.

According to her, this contrasts sharply with the period immediately after independence when mining accounted for nearly five per cent of Nigeria’s total exports.

Shinkafi said reforms introduced since September 2023 under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda are repositioning the sector for sustainable growth.

She listed the key initiatives to include the establishment of the proposed Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation, increased private sector investment, expansion of geoscience data through the Nigeria Minerals Decision Support System, formalisation of artisanal miners, deployment of Mining Marshals to combat illegal mining, revocation of more than 2,500 dormant mining licences and promotion of local mineral beneficiation.

According to her, the Mining Marshals have arrested over 300 illegal miners and recovered nearly 100 illegally operated mining sites nationwide.

She added that the reforms have attracted approximately $2.6 billion in fresh investment commitments, including a $1.3 billion alumina refinery with an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, described as the largest mining investment in Nigeria’s history.

Highlighting efforts to strengthen research and innovation, Shinkafi unveiled the Early-Stage Mineral Exploration and Research Grant Endowment (EMERGE), launched by the SMDF in June 2026.

She described EMERGE as Nigeria’s first dedicated competitive funding platform for geoscience research in universities.

According to her, the programme comprises three funding windows, Exploration, Critical Minerals, and Research and Development, with the Research and Development stream providing full funding for eligible costs, including fieldwork, laboratory analysis and publication.

Shinkafi noted that the keynote lecture featured three women in leadership positions and encouraged more young women to pursue careers in mining and geosciences.

In her remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor 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, Professor Olayinka Taiwo Asekun, said the lecture series was designed to strengthen collaboration between academia and industry.

She said the EMERGE initiative provides researchers with an opportunity to translate academic research into commercially viable mining projects.

Asekun said: “The Executive Secretary has offered our staff and students a funded pathway from a Master’s thesis to a working mine. We accept the challenge and will ensure that no application window closes without a University of Lagos submission.”