Nigeria’s participation in the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78) has surpassed mere diplomatic exchanges, ushering in the promise of substantial foreign direct investments that may well exceed $30 billion within the next two years.
Credible sources have confirmed that Nigeria is on the brink of securing a colossal influx of funds, particularly within the critical domain of solid minerals development, owing to the proactive strategies deployed by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Findings indicate that during UNGA78, Mr Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, held a pivotal meeting with Congressman, Ted Yoho, the architect behind a groundbreaking legislative framework that enables Nigeria and other nations to access substantial foreign investments from the United States’ pool of available public and private investment funds amounting to well above $200 billion dollars.
The minister’s aide, Kehinde Bamgbetan confirmed that the duo had a productive meeting in New York.
According to very informed sources, officials in the Tinubu administration and the Nigerian Embassy in New York had very productive interactions with Congressman Ted Yoho at the Nigerian Embassy on September 15, with a very clear focus on how available pool of investment funds from the United States and some OECD nations towards ensuring exponential solid minerals development in ways that can help Nigeria’s actualization of the ‘Renewed Hope’ manifesto, along with economic multiplier effects.
According to credible sources, new efforts initiated by the Tinubu administration during the UNGA78 now place Nigeria in a vantage position to benefit from the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) which was launched in June 2022 as a democratic alternative to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.
Nigeria now stands to benefit from the programme under which the United States and G7 countries are mobilizing $600 billion in public and private capital, inclusive of $200 billion from the United States.
Official discussions initiated by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development also indicate a great likelihood for Nigeria to benefit from a huge inflow of foreign direct investments through the Minerals Security Partnership.
Under the new minerals engagement policy of the Biden administration, the United States government has begun implementing its resolve to enhance African countries’ production of lithium, nickel, cobalt and other minerals and the Democratic Republic of Congo started the development of battery supply chain some months ago.
With the Tinubu administration’s proactive efforts, Nigeria stands to benefit tremendously from the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a collaboration involving the United States the EU and other countries towards catalysing public and private investment in responsible critical minerals supply chains globally.
The Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) partners – United States, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the European Union aim to accelerate the development of diverse and sustainable critical energy minerals supply chains through working with host governments and industry to facilitate targeted financial and diplomatic support for strategic projects along the solid minerals value chain.
One of the MSP’s primary mandates is to promote the responsible mining of strategic minerals and it considers projects along the full clean energy value chain, from mining, extraction, and secondary recovery, to processing and refining, and ultimately to recycling, especially those minerals and metals supply chains most relevant for clean energy technologies such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, copper and rare earth elements.
It will be recalled while unveiling the ‘Agenda for the Transformation of Solid Minerals for International Competitiveness and Domestic Prosperity’ shortly after resuming as Minister, Mr Alake had emphasised possibilities of ensuring that accelerated inflows of foreign direct investment into Nigeria’s solid minerals sector boost the sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP by at least 50%.
