Nigeria and the United States have signed a framework agreement to deepen cooperation and attract greater American investment into Nigeria\u2019s mining sector, as the Federal Government seeks to unlock an estimated $700 billion in untapped mineral wealth.<\/p>\n
The agreement was signed on Wednesday, September 23, at the Nigeria Mission House in New York by Nigeria\u2019s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, and United States Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.<\/p>\n
The pact is designed to expand cooperation across Nigeria\u2019s mineral value chain, including geological data and exploration, mineral development and processing, infrastructure and technical capacity building. It is also intended to facilitate business-to-business opportunities and strengthen critical-mineral supply chains.<\/p>\n
Importantly, the $700 billion figure represents the Federal Government\u2019s estimate of Nigeria\u2019s untapped mineral wealth, not the value of the Nigeria-US agreement or a $700 billion American investment commitment. No specific U.S. investment amount or individual mining project was announced alongside the signing.<\/p>\n
Framework Covers Exploration, Processing and Infrastructure<\/strong><\/p>\n Alake described the agreement as a future-focused framework that would enable Nigeria and the United States to collaborate on geological information, mineral exploration, development and processing, infrastructure and technical capacity.<\/p>\n He said the partnership reflected a shared understanding that critical-mineral supply chains must be secure, resilient and supported by responsible investment.<\/p>\n The minister said Nigeria’s objective was to move beyond the traditional model of exporting largely unprocessed minerals while other countries capture a greater share of the value through refining, manufacturing and other downstream activities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not here to remain a source of raw material for the value that others create,\u201d Alake said.<\/p>\n He said Nigeria wanted to convert its mineral potential into lasting domestic value through stronger local processing, skills development, quality jobs and greater opportunities for Nigerian businesses.<\/p>\n Focus Shifts From Raw Mineral Exports to Value Addition<\/strong><\/p>\n The agreement comes as the Federal Government continues to emphasise local value addition as a central part of its mining-sector strategy.<\/p>\n Under the framework, cooperation is expected to extend beyond exploration into processing, infrastructure development and technical skills. The approach is intended to increase Nigeria\u2019s participation in the higher-value stages of the mineral supply chain and reduce reliance on the export of raw materials.<\/p>\n The push comes amid growing international interest in critical minerals and supply-chain security. Recent government statements have also stressed the need for African countries to move from being exporters of raw minerals towards domestic processing and manufacturing.<\/p>\n Nigeria already has a significant mineral production base. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the country was the world’s second-largest tantalum producer in 2024, accounting for an estimated 16 percent of global production, and the fourth-largest producer of beryllium, with an estimated 9.2 percent share. Nigeria also produced gold, iron ore, lead, manganese, niobium, rare earths, tin, tungsten, zinc and other mineral commodities.<\/p>\n The USGS said mining and quarrying contributed 6.9 percent of Nigeria\u2019s GDP in 2024, although crude petroleum and natural gas accounted for most of the sector\u2019s output.<\/p>\n Government Targets Concrete Projects<\/strong><\/p>\n Alake said the next priority would be to translate the framework into actual projects and investments capable of producing measurable economic benefits.<\/p>\n He said the government would seek to identify viable opportunities and build partnerships that create value for Nigerian and American stakeholders.<\/p>\n The minister’s emphasis on implementation is significant because the agreement itself does not announce a specific investment package. Its practical impact will depend on the emergence of bankable projects, financing arrangements, infrastructure and participation by Nigerian companies and workers.<\/p>\n The government expects the partnership to support the economic diversification and industrialisation objectives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu\u2019s Renewed Hope Agenda.<\/p>\n US Backs Nigeria\u2019s Value-Addition Strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n Landau said the agreement reflected a strengthening economic relationship between Nigeria and the United States and expressed Washington\u2019s support for Nigeria\u2019s economic development.<\/p>\n He described the two countries as partners and said the United States wanted to build on cooperation developed during the past year and a half under Presidents Donald Trump and Bola Tinubu.<\/p>\n The U.S. position also aligns with Nigeria\u2019s objective of developing mineral supply chains that retain more value within the country through processing, skills development and industrial activity.<\/p>\n Pact Follows Months of Preparations<\/strong><\/p>\n The signing follows months of discussions between Nigerian and U.S. officials.<\/p>\n Earlier in September, the Federal Government announced that the two countries were preparing to sign a mining cooperation MoU during the UN General Assembly. The planned agreement followed discussions between Alake and U.S. Embassy Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires Keith Heffern, building on an earlier high-level engagement in Washington involving Nigerian officials and U.S. national-security and supply-chain officials.<\/p>\n The completed agreement therefore represents the formalisation of a process that had been under development before the UNGA.<\/p>\n The Nigeria-US agreement was signed as Nigerian officials used the UNGA week to promote broader cooperation around Africa\u2019s mineral resources.<\/p>\n At the Africa Minerals Strategy Group high-level roundtable in New York on September 22, Alake called for a Mine Emergency and Community Development Fund to address the human and material losses associated with mine collapses.<\/p>\n He also proposed an African safety facility aimed at improving artisanal mining practices and encouraging the formation of mining cooperatives. The Federal Ministry of Information said the discussions also focused on mineral corridors, regional infrastructure and processing investment.<\/p>\n President Tinubu, represented at the roundtable by Vice President Kashim Shettima, has separately called for African countries to move away from exporting raw minerals and instead pursue local processing, manufacturing and value addition.<\/p>\n These initiatives provide a broader context for the Nigeria-US agreement, particularly Nigeria\u2019s attempt to attract international capital while retaining more economic activity within the country.<\/p>\n $700bn Mineral Wealth Remains a Long-Term Target<\/strong><\/p>\n The Federal Government and mining-sector institutions have for some time put Nigeria\u2019s untapped mineral potential at about $700 billion. The Solid Minerals Development Fund has similarly described the country as possessing an estimated $700 billion in mining potential while identifying inadequate financing, geological data and technical capacity as constraints to development.<\/p>\n The scale of the estimate underscores the opportunity being targeted by the government, but the figure should not be interpreted as the amount of capital secured through the new Nigeria-US pact.<\/p>\n The agreement instead establishes a framework through which investment, technology, expertise and commercial partnerships could potentially be mobilised.<\/p>\n Implementation to Determine Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n The Nigeria-US framework marks the start of a new phase of cooperation rather than the completion of specific mining investments. For Nigeria, the central challenge will be converting its substantial geological potential into productive assets and domestic industries while ensuring that Nigerian businesses and workers participate meaningfully in the resulting value chains.<\/p>\n For the United States, the framework provides an avenue for deeper engagement with one of Africa\u2019s largest economies and a country with significant deposits of minerals considered important to global supply chains.<\/p>\n The coming months are therefore expected to provide a clearer indication of whether the newly signed framework can move from diplomatic cooperation to concrete projects and commercial investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigeria and the United States have signed a framework agreement to deepen cooperation and attract greater American investment into Nigeria\u2019s mining sector, as the Federal Government seeks to unlock an estimated $700 billion in untapped mineral wealth. The agreement was signed on Wednesday, September 23, at the Nigeria Mission House in New York by Nigeria\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":100376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[452,525,249,577],"class_list":["post-100374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-news","tag-agreement","tag-mining","tag-nigeria","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100377,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100374\/revisions\/100377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/100376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIts economic impact will ultimately depend on whether the agreement produces exploration activity, viable mines, processing facilities, infrastructure, investment, jobs and technology transfer.<\/p>\n