No stable mineral property bought to US – Alake

The minister of stable minerals improvement, Dr Dele Alake on Tuesday denied rumours that Nigeria bought $700 billion value of stable minerals to the US, simply as he inaugurated the Nigeria-United States Committee on Strategic Cooperation within the Solid Minerals Sector in Abuja.

The inauguration adopted the strategic cooperation framework established between Nigeria and the United States through the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Alake stated the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the US was a government-to-government platform to facilitate business-to-business engagements between American traders and Nigerian native operators, not a sale of property.

Harping on the significance of the stable minerals sector to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s financial diversification agenda, he famous that the administration was dedicated to decreasing dependence on a mono-product financial system by means of the sustainable improvement of Nigeria’s huge mineral assets.

According to him, the Nigeria–US partnership as a strategic initiative to draw funding, promote know-how switch, strengthen native mineral processing and create employment alternatives.

“There is no sale of any Nigerian asset. There’s nothing exchanging hands. We created a platform to facilitate mingling of US investment ventures with Nigeria’s local operators. It is in the public domain. We signed it in public and published it in four or five national newspapers,” he said.

The minister stated stories claiming the US was coming to take over Nigeria’s minerals and safety structure had been unfaithful at finest and merchandise of riotous creativeness at worst.

Explaining the coverage thrust, Alake stated Africa has traditionally held the quick finish of the stick in international financial transactions, and Nigeria is decided to alter that mannequin.

“We have the resources, the critical elements the world needs to transit to clean energy. So, we are creating a new paradigm. You bring your capital, expertise and technology to match with our natural resources and create a win-win situation. The investor gains, Nigeria gains,” he stated.

Nigeria, he pressured, had operated a mono-cultural financial system depending on oil, whereas stable minerals had been exploited informally with ores taken from pit to port with out worth addition, saying authorities has now made native processing necessary, by refusing to grant mineral titles to traders and not using a clear pathway to processing in Nigeria.

He stated the coverage led to the arising of processing factories, together with the biggest lithium processing plant in West Africa commissioned lately in Nasarawa by the vice chairman and knowledgeable the formation of the African Minerals Strategy Group.

Alake famous that investor confidence has returned on account of macro-economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu that ensures safety of tenure and repatriation of earnings.

He charged the committee to discharge its project responsibly, saying its work is strategic to reaching the president’s $1 trillion financial system goal.

To this finish, he advised the committee to make sure efficient coordination, establish funding alternatives and translate the framework into measurable outcomes able to positioning Nigeria as a aggressive participant within the international stable minerals business.

The financial officer on the US Embassy, Jonathan Baas stated President Donald Trump has prioritised power, synthetic intelligence/tremendous intelligence,and significant minerals for US embassies.

Baas stated Washington’s course is to work with companions to safe vital provide chains whereas guaranteeing companions seize worth.

“We just signed a contract today on looking into building AI data centres in Nigeria at the Nigerian Economic Summit. That’s the direction Washington wants us to go,” he stated.