By Joni Akpederi
Nigeria’s economic fortunes may be on the cusp of positive change with the discovery
of rare earth minerals in parts of Kaduna State in the Northern region the country.
Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, who announced the find,
confirmed Nigerian Geological Survey Agency's affirmation of valuable high grade high
grade deposits of rare earth elements including lithium and other traditional ores of
gold, nickel, copper and platinum. Economy watchers are enthused that, the country's
oil industry may at last be getting some help in the arduous burden of raising
revenues for national development.
Sources claim that a 3.3 million metric tonnes of lithium reserves lie underground in an
area around Abuja , the nations capital city. This alone has heightened hopes of brighter
economic prospect to the country, currently struggling to raise resources from
international capital markets to fix fiscal deficits, strengthen budget support and build
sorely needed infrastructure development.
Already, according Mr Alake, investors are heeding incentives to poor resources into
exploitation and processing of the resources
Ongoing projects include an $800 as well as a $600 million lithium processing facilities
in Nasarawa State, another $200 million lithium plant and a $1 billion iron ore-to-steel
project in Kogi State.
Solid minerals’ contribution to annual revenue rose from about N6 billion before the
current administration took office to more than N38 billion in 2024 and exceeded N70
billion by the end of 2025. Analysts are upbeat that multiples of that sum will start
starting into government coffers, in the coming years.