The federal government has taken a decisive step toward unlocking the enormous mineral wealth sitting beneath the North Central region, with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development forging a strategic partnership with the North Central Development Commission to drive mineral processing, job creation and sustainable economic development across the zone.
The collaboration came into focus during a high level meeting between the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr. Dele Alake, and the management team of the NCDC at the minister’s office in Abuja, where both institutions laid the groundwork for a coordinated approach to transforming the region’s vast but largely untapped mining potential.
Formalising the Artisanal Sector
Alake used the occasion to shed light on the ministry’s ongoing efforts to bring order to what has historically been a largely unregulated segment of Nigeria’s mining landscape. He disclosed that more than 300 small scale and artisanal miners across the country have already been organised into cooperatives as part of a sustained drive to steer them away from illegal operations and integrate them into the formal mining economy.
He added that the administration of President Bola Tinubu has arrested over 300 illegal miners since coming to office, with approximately 150 of them, including foreign nationals, currently undergoing prosecution. The minister framed this enforcement drive not as punitive in isolation, but as part of a broader effort to bring structure, accountability and greater economic value to a sector that has long operated in the shadows.
Value Addition Driving Billions in Economic Returns
At the heart of the ministry’s strategy is a local value addition policy designed to shift Nigeria away from the longstanding practice of exporting raw mineral resources with little or no processing done within the country. Alake said the policy is already delivering tangible results, with new mineral processing projects having taken off in the North Central region as a direct consequence of this approach.
He revealed that through the value addition framework, mining is now contributing more than $2 billion to the Nigerian economy, a figure he described as a testament to the transformative potential of encouraging in-country processing and beneficiation of mineral resources.
“The policy is designed to encourage in-country processing and beneficiation of mineral resources, thereby reducing raw material exportation while boosting industrial growth, job creation and overall economic diversification,” Alake explained.
He was equally emphatic about the broader vision driving the Tinubu administration’s engagement with the solid minerals sector, stressing that the president is focused on building enduring legacies and institutions rather than pursuing short term gains.
A Call to Purposeful Service
Beyond the technical and economic dimensions of the meeting, Alake offered the NCDC leadership a candid piece of personal philosophy, urging them to approach their mandate with a sense of national duty rather than personal enrichment.
“You have a very critical role to play and note that you are not doing it for the president or the government. You are doing it for the Nigerian nation. And your own names would also be etched in the sands of time, that when you were there, when you had the opportunity, you made your own contributions. This is my own guiding philosophy and your conscience will be clear and you can go to bed in peace. You do not have to make material acquisition your main focus because materialism is transient, a flash in the pan,” he told the NCDC team.
He also stressed the need for a robust working relationship between the ministry and development commissions across the country, describing the solid minerals sector as a critical driver of broader economic growth that must be pursued through strategic collaboration, transparency and disciplined project execution.
NCDC Proposes Special Purpose Vehicle
Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of the North Central Development Commission, Dr. Cyril Tsenyil, said the visit was motivated by a genuine desire to identify concrete areas of collaboration between the two institutions, noting that such partnerships are essential for aligning efforts, pooling shared resources and driving sustainable development outcomes across the North Central region.
Tsenyil highlighted the region’s considerable mineral endowments and put forward a proposal for the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle to serve as a dedicated mechanism for accelerating development in the mining sub-sector, a suggestion that was received positively by the ministry.
The meeting concluded with both institutions committing to the establishment of a technical working committee that will be tasked with driving progress on the agreed areas of cooperation.
About the NCDC
The North Central Development Commission is a federal government agency established under the North Central Development Commission (Establishment) Act of 2024, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu. The commission was created to drive development across Nigeria’s North Central geopolitical zone, which comprises Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. It was modelled along the lines of existing regional development agencies such as the Niger Delta Development Commission, with a mandate to close longstanding development gaps across the zone.
