Nigeria must move away from the export of unprocessed critical minerals and focus on developing local processing, manufacturing and technology capabilities to create jobs and maximise the economic benefits of the global transition to clean energy, stakeholders have said.

The call was made at a High-Level Stakeholder Convening on Advancing Nigeria’s Green Industrialisation Through Critical Minerals, organised by the Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI), in collaboration with the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), with support from the Ford Foundation.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of APRI said Nigeria must avoid repeating the extractive economic model of the oil era by simply replacing crude oil exports with unprocessed lithium, copper, graphite and other critical minerals.

She said critical minerals had become strategic economic and national security assets as countries across Europe, North America, Asia and the Gulf compete to secure reliable supplies amid the global energy transition.

According to her, Africa is increasingly at the centre of global competition for critical minerals, with APRI research identifying nearly 100 agreements involving African countries and international partners, most of which were signed within the past decade.

She said Nigeria’s focus should not only be on how much lithium, nickel, graphite and other minerals it could extract, but on how the resources could be used to build industries, create decent jobs, strengthen technological capacity and attract investment into power, infrastructure and manufacturing.

She said: “The more important questions are: What kind of economy can we build around these minerals? Can they support new industries? Can they create decent jobs? Can they strengthen our technological capabilities?

“Can they attract investment into power, infrastructure and manufacturing? Can Nigerian businesses participate meaningfully in these value chains? And importantly, can communities where these minerals are found see tangible improvements in their lives?”

The APRI Executive Director said Nigeria’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2060, alongside its economic diversification and industrial development objectives, provided an opportunity to connect climate ambitions with broader development goals.

She, however, warned that without appropriate institutions, policies, financing, infrastructure and governance, Nigeria could merely replace one extractive model with another.

“We could move from exporting crude oil to exporting raw minerals, while most of the processing, technology, manufacturing and economic value continue to be created elsewhere. That cannot be our ambition,” she said.

She disclosed that APRI had been working on critical minerals and green industrialisation across Africa, including research into battery value chains, regional integration, the African Mining Vision and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

She said its Roadmap for Nigeria’s Critical Minerals Strategy Project involved engagements with artisanal and small-scale miners, mining companies, professional associations, researchers, civil society organisations, government institutions and mining communities.

The project, she explained, was designed to examine how Nigeria could develop a “self-determined, responsible and justice-centred critical minerals pathway” that would move the country from extraction towards local value addition, stronger institutions and more equitable development outcomes.

Speaking, the Director-General of the NCCC, Mrs Omotenioye Majekodunmi, represented at the event, said the global energy transition was no longer merely an environmental agenda but had become an industrial and economic competition.

She asked: “Who will supply the lithium? Who will process the graphite? Who will manufacture the batteries? Where will the new factories be built? And, ultimately, where will the jobs and wealth of the new economy be created?”

Majekodunmi said Nigeria could not afford to repeat the old economic model of extracting resources, exporting them in their lowest-value form and importing finished products at significantly higher costs.

“Changing the commodity from crude oil to lithium does not change the model,” she said.

According to her, Nigeria’s ambition should go beyond becoming a supplier of critical minerals to capturing a greater share of the value chain domestically through processing, refining, manufacturing, battery assembly, technology, skills development and logistics.

She said the success of Nigeria’s climate transition should be measured not only by the volume of carbon emissions avoided but also by jobs created, businesses established and incomes improved.

Majekodunmi cited Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, which estimates approximately 340,000 net jobs by 2030 and 840,000 by 2060, particularly across the power, clean cooking and transport sectors.

She identified four priorities for achieving green industrialisation through critical minerals: moving from extraction to value addition; ensuring environmentally responsible mineral production; connecting climate ambitions to capital; and ensuring host communities benefit from mineral development.

While acknowledging that Nigeria could not localise every stage of every mineral value chain overnight, she urged policymakers to identify areas where the country could develop competitive advantages and deliberately build capacity around them.

She warned that environmental responsibility would increasingly determine market access as international buyers scrutinise the carbon footprint, traceability and environmental integrity of mineral supply chains.

“Nigeria therefore has an opportunity to build differently from the beginning — using cleaner power, stronger environmental safeguards and credible standards,” she said.

On financing, Majekodunmi said significant capital would be required to establish processing plants, clean power infrastructure and manufacturing facilities, stressing that government could not and should not finance the transition alone.

“Our responsibility is to create the policy certainty, regulatory coordination and investment environment that allow private capital to move. I often say that capital follows certainty,” she said.

The Ford Foundation Country Director, Dr Chi Aniagolu, said Nigeria was at a historic crossroads as the global shift towards clean energy increasingly reshaped international trade and economic relations.

Aniagolu said Nigeria was “uniquely and phenomenally positioned” for the transition because of its largely untapped deposits of critical minerals, including lithium, copper, manganese and bauxite.

She said the resources were central to technologies powering the emerging green economy, including electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy storage.
However, she stressed that Nigeria’s vision must extend beyond becoming a supplier of raw materials.

The convening brought together representatives of the Federal Ministries of Solid Minerals Development and Environment, NCCC, Solid Minerals Development Fund, Rural Electrification Agency, Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, industry, financial institutions, development partners, civil society, academia, professional bodies, mining communities and the media.