Nigeria, France strengthen ties to boost mining development

Nigeria and France have taken further steps to actualise the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed last month in Paris to boost mining development locally.

A ministry statement revealed that the steps were taken on the sidelines of the strategic minerals meeting at the ongoing Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.

Speaking at the meeting, Dele Alake, minister of Solid Minerals Development, and Benjamin Gallezot, France inter-ministerial delegate for strategic minerals, said the MOU further aims to promote sustainable mining practices, reduce environmental impact, and decarbonise energy projects, the statement added.

Gallezot announced that his department was screening a list of French companies that had applied to invest in the Nigerian mining sector and would forward the final list of verified serious investors to the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.

Earlier, Alake had appreciated Gallezot for working with him to produce the MOU despite the severe time constraints during the visit of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu to French President Emmanuel Macron, noting that attempts by political opponents to misinform the public about the genuine objectives of the MOU have been sufficiently neutralised.

The MOU includes provisions for research collaborations, knowledge exchange, and capacity-building through Franco-Nigerian student training programmes. It also outlines plans for environmental rehabilitation, including interventions in over 2,000 abandoned mining sites in Nigeria.

Alake said the Future Minerals Forum allowed both countries to advance their understanding by designing programmes, policies, and projects that removed doubts about collaboration and generated positive outcomes.

The discussions featured issues such as sustainable mining, artisanal mining, geological exploration, cadastral management, training, and funding.

In his presentation, Olusegun Ige, director-general (DG) of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), highlighted the agency’s desire to acquire modern advanced technological equipment to enhance the exploration of geological data.

He said the lack of advanced technological equipment has delayed the exploration of large sheets of mineralised spaces.

Ige said the laboratory must also be upgraded to analyse extracted rocks using the latest gadgets to generate accurate information.

In his contribution, Simon Nkom, director-general of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, said it was important to compare mining laws of France and Nigeria to detect areas of common practices and improvement, noting that this could be useful in the ongoing review of mining laws.

Nkom tasked the French delegation to encourage French investors to explore opportunities in Nigerian mining by leveraging the MOU.

In her presentation, Fatima Shinkafi, executive secretary of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Fund, proposed the co-funding of early-stage exploration projects by the agency and French financial institutions. She said that the SMDF has acquired a lot of historical data and best practices from its current collaboration with the Africa Finance Corporation to fund mining entrepreneurs seeking funding for exploration.

Replying to matters raised by NGSA, Christophe Poinssot, deputy director, Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres (BRGM), the French geological agency, promised to include Nigeria among the countries benefitting from funds managed by France to build the capacity of geologists in Africa.