From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development is partnering with relevant agencies to ensure financing, infrastructure, security, and technical support align with national mining priorities.
Minister Dele Alake stated this at a game-changing webinar themed “Unlocking Nigeria’s Solid Minerals Potentials Through the Capital Market”, organised by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF).
The minister, represented by his senior adviser on mining and policy, Amira Adamu Waziri, emphasised that the capital market is a critical pillar in the journey toward a sustainable mining sector.
Alake stressed that through the capital market, Nigeria can mobilise long-term financing for exploration and project development, support junior mining companies to raise funds and scale operations, facilitate securitisation and monetisation of geological assets, and channel institutional capital into infrastructure and processing hubs.
The minister, who commended the organisers for the initiative, added that the webinar marks the beginning of a broader national conversation on using structured capital to unlock mineral wealth.
Dr Alake emphasised that the ministry remains committed to inclusive and strategic stakeholder engagement.
“We are open to ideas, partnerships, and joint efforts that can advance the collective good of the mining industry,” Dr Alake added.
The Executive Secretary of the SMDF, Hajia Fatimah Shinkafi, represented by her technical adviser, Abdulmajeed Oyeyemi Amussah, unveiled a three-pronged funding strategy to unlock the untapped potential of Nigeria’s mining sector.
She explained that the strategy targets early-stage mining projects that are currently unattractive to commercial lenders and aims to de-risk investments and fast-track the development of Nigeria’s vast solid mineral resources.
“The SMDF is deploying three distinct funding vehicles: Growth Fund, Opportunities Fund, and Research Fund,” she emphasised.
She noted that the Growth Fund will stimulate early exploration and provide project development facilities, while the Opportunities Fund will accelerate project development and optimise existing mining operations.
Hajia Shinkafi added that the Research Fund would support enabling infrastructure and policy innovation to create a favourable ecosystem for investment.
She noted that many projects in Nigeria are stuck at Stage 1 and 2 exploration and feasibility, which limits their attractiveness to financiers.
“Despite over ₦10 billion being available for mining development, credit distribution remains skewed, with agriculture and transportation getting the bulk of bank financing, and mining barely making a dent,” she said.
According to her, unlocking the potential of Nigeria’s solid minerals will require innovative financing approaches that align with government priorities and private sector needs.
In his contribution, a representative from the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission, Bola Ajomale, stated that solid minerals have the potential to transform Nigeria’s economy if properly harnessed.
“The potential in the country is critical not just for the capital market but for economic development,” Ajomale stated.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NASD Plc, Mr Eguarekhide Longe, stressed that unveiling a bold capital market strategy will unlock Nigeria’s solid minerals wealth.
According to him, the strategy involves leveraging the capital market to mobilise strategic investment into the sector through the National Digital Securities Platform (N-DSP), a blockchain-based platform for listing, trading, clearing, and settlement of tokenised securities.
Longe insisted that Nigeria’s solid minerals sector remains one of the most underexploited despite its massive potential to contribute to GDP and create jobs.
He added that the NASD/SMDF partnership is focusing on multi-asset security tokenisation, encompassing equity, debt instruments, and commodity-backed securities, to unlock capital for early-stage mining and support exploration, processing, and production.
Leave a comment