Stakeholders push to end Nigeria’s raw mineral exports as energy transition accelerates

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s energy and solid minerals sectors are escalating calls for a decisive policy shift from raw material extraction to domestic processing, warning that the country risks missing out on the massive economic gains of the global energy transition if it continues to export unprocessed critical minerals like lithium, copper, and cobalt.

The consensus emerged at a high-level strategic convening in Abuja organized by the National Council for Climate Change (NCCC), with technical and financial backing from the Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI) and the Ford Foundation. Themed “Advancing Nigeria’s Green Industrialisation Through Critical Minerals,” the meeting brought together public sector leaders, development partners, and private sector actors to chart a sustainable roadmap for the country’s energy transition assets.

Speaking during the event, Tenioye Majekodunmi, Director General of the NCCC, stressed that Nigeria must  desist from transacting minerals, such as lithium, copper, and manganese as simple replacements for crude oil in Nigeria’s export ledger.

She said that extracting resources from Africa, exporting them in their lowest value form and importing them back as expensive finished products is not industrialization. Noting that not every stage of the value chains can be localized, Majekodunmi said operators must be deliberate about identifying where Nigeria has a genuine competitive advantage and building domestic capacity there.

For her, Nigeria’s climate transition will not be measured only in terms of carbon avoided but also in jobs created, businesses that are built, and in incomes that are improved.

“Our energy transition plan demonstrates the scale of that opportunity, estimating approximately 340,000 net jobs by 2030 and 840,000 by 2016, particularly across power, clean cooking, and transport. So the question before us is how we ensure that critical minerals and green industrialization expand that economic opportunity.

“Nigeria’s opportunity is therefore not simply to become a supplier of critical minerals, but to capture more of the value chain here at home. That means processing, refining, manufacturing, battery assembling, technology, skills, logistics, and Nigerian businesses participating throughout that ecosystem,” she said.

According to her, there is need for a four-point national priority framework centered on shifting the country’s focus from primary extraction to domestic refining, battery assembly, technology transfer, and local logistics. She emphasized that international markets are applying unprecedented scrutiny to supply chain traceability, carbon footprints, and environmental standards.

Addressing the infrastructure funding deficit required to build local processing capacity, she noted that state resources alone would be insufficient to bridge the gap.

“Capital follows certainty, policy certainty, regulatory coordination, and an enabling investment environment will be crucial to attracting the private financing needed for processing plants, clean energy infrastructure, and manufacturing facilities,” she added.

In his remarks, Olumide Abimbola, Executive Director of APRI, revealed that recent mapping research conducted by the institute identified nearly 100 green mineral agreements signed between African nations and global powers over the last decade.

Drawing on APRI’s field research across five mineral-rich states in Nigeria, which included engagements with artisanal miners, corporate operators, and civil society, Abimbola warned that current trade patterns mirror historic exploitation models.

“We could move from exporting crude oil to exporting raw minerals, while most of the processing, technology, manufacturing, and economic value continue to be created elsewhere. That cannot be our ambition,” Abimbola stated.

He argued that host communities, which have historically borne the environmental degradation of resource extraction, must see tangible economic returns through local jobs, infrastructure development, and business participation.

Also speaking at the event,  Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, Regional Director at the Ford Foundation, called for an immediate overhaul of national resource governance, urging the federal government to enforce strict local content laws, invest heavily in advanced geological exploration, and promote technology deployment within the domestic mining sector.

She said that to benefit from the transition to renewable energy, Nigeria’s vision needs to extend beyond simply supplying raw materials to the world.

She explained that by building local lithium processing plants, utilizing advanced satellite mapping for precision exploration, and enforcing local content laws, Nigeria can create a sustainable industrial ecosystem that generates high-skilled jobs and retains economic wealth at home.

“Nigeria possesses the core minerals required for the global energy transition, including lithium, copper, magnesium, and bauxite. The country must break the historic cycle of raw extraction. Our policy direction must prioritize domestic value addition, ensuring processing, beneficiation, and manufacturing occur within our borders to build an ecosystem capable of generating high-skilled employment.

“This is why our gathering today is important, because to build a blueprint for this robust economy, we must enhance and strengthen collaborations across traditional silos and facilitate a rich exchange of knowledge, learning deeply from both international successes and our own domestic experiences.

“No single entity can achieve this alone. That is why this forum is intentionally designed to promote a fierce, transparent dialogue on governance, strategic investment, beneficiation, local value addition, and crucially, long-term environmental sustainability and positive community outcomes,” Aniagolu-Okoye added.

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