The Nigerian Federal Government has expressed the plan to partner with the United Kingdom Government, in setting up a joint technical working group for the development of critical mineral deposits in the country.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media, to the Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dele Alake, Segun Tomori, on Wednesday, in Abuja.
It was gathered that the development came as a result of the meeting between Alake and the UK Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, on the sidelines of the Mines and Money conference in London in December 2023.
However, a delegation of the British High Commission led by Deputy High Commissioner, Johnny Baxter, paid a visit to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development on Tuesday to fine-tune details of the collaboration.
Alake noted that the partnership will culminate in investments in the mining sector value chain.
According to the minister, President Bola Tinubu’s administration was determined to improve the ease of doing business in the mining sector.
He further explained that this would be done through the establishment of new security architecture for natural resources.
Stating that the administration was also establishing an efficient governance structure by creating a Nigerian Mining Corporation led by the private sector. Alake restated the commitment of the government to sanitise and reposition the mining sector towards boosting its capacity to contribute substantially to the nation’s revenue.
