The Federal Government has said mining companies cannot simply obtain licences and move into communities without first engaging the people whose land and environment will be affected, insisting that community participation remains central to the approval and operation of mining projects across the country.
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Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Oladele Henry Alake, stated this at the maiden Rivers State Chapter Summit of the Miners Association of Nigeria in Port Harcourt, where concerns ranging from illegal mining and weak regulatory awareness to community relations and Nigeria’s place in the global energy transition were discussed.
Alake, who was represented by the Mines Officer and representative of the ministry’s Rivers State office, Engineer Raymond Naku, said Nigeria’s mineral wealth had never been in doubt. According to him, what had been missing over the years was the structure required to turn those resources into sustainable economic development.
“For decades, you will see all around, we have several minerals that are good to be explored, mined and developed. The potentials are not in doubt. What has been missing is a developing structure,” he said.
The minister identified exploration data, processing capacity, access to finance and community engagement as some of the foundations that must be strengthened if Nigeria is to build a properly organised mining industry.
He placed particular emphasis on host communities, arguing that mineral deposits exist within communities and that operators cannot hope to conduct mining peacefully without first addressing the interests of the people living around mining sites.
“That is why in the validation of every licence issued by the ministry, the community plays a very critical role,” Alake said.
“Their consent is the foundation for every licence. If you don’t have consent for your letter, how do you operate? The essence of you having consent is to, first of all, ensure that when the licence is given to you, you have a peaceful atmosphere to work with.”
Nigeria’s mining laws already provide a framework for engagement between operators and host communities. Section 116 of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 requires the holder of a Mining Lease, Small Scale Mining Lease or Quarry Lease, before beginning development activities within the lease area, to conclude a Community Development Agreement with the host community. The agreement is expected to provide for social and economic benefits to the community.
The 2011 Mining Regulations further provide that community representatives signing such agreements must be freely chosen by the community, while the agreement is expected to address matters including community development programmes, environmental protection, compensation and conflict resolution.
The ministry’s investment guidance also lists irrevocable consent from landowners or occupiers among the pre-grant requirements for a Mining Lease, reinforcing the place of land access and community engagement in the licensing process.
The ministry separately says one of the functions of its Mines Environment Compliance Department is to ensure that mining companies transfer social and economic benefits to host communities through Community Development Agreements and to encourage dialogue with communities affected by mining activities.
For participants at the Port Harcourt summit, however, community consent was only one part of a broader conversation about how Nigeria can turn its mineral deposits into jobs, revenue and locally processed products rather than simply supplying raw materials to other economies.
National President of the Miners Association of Nigeria, HRH Oba Dele Ayanleke-Elegbede, warned that Nigeria risks becoming little more than a supplier of raw materials to countries that will process them and capture most of the economic value.
He said Nigeria’s resource potential placed the country in a strong position to participate in the global transition towards cleaner energy technologies, many of which depend heavily on critical minerals.
“At the global level, especially in the global energy transition agenda, it is no longer news that the Nigerian soil is richly endowed with resources to be a major player,” Ayanleke-Elegbede said.
He warned, however, that having minerals in the ground would not automatically translate into economic advantage.
“There is a palpable fear by the Miners Association of Nigeria and our partners that Nigeria might just be a mere creative body for the economy of other nations in the energy transition race if we fail to frontally tackle some of the doubting challenges, which are diminishing the contributions of the sector to our national economy and global relevance,” he said.
The warning aligns with the Federal Government’s stated policy of encouraging local processing rather than allowing mining companies to simply extract and export raw minerals. The ministry has said applicants for mining licences are expected to disclose plans for processing minerals locally as part of its push for value addition, jobs and skills transfer.
At the state level, Chairman of the Rivers State Chapter of the Miners Association of Nigeria, HRH Hope Opusingi, said the association had spent the past two years engaging miners, communities, government agencies and other industry stakeholders.
According to him, those engagements exposed several problems holding back mining operations in Rivers State, including poor understanding of the laws regulating the industry.
“Our observations revealed an alarming level of inadequate awareness of key regulatory instruments governing mining operations, particularly the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 and the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Regulations Act, 2011,” Opusingi said.
He said many operators remained unfamiliar with important provisions of the regulatory framework, while illegal mining continued to deprive government of revenue and create environmental and regulatory problems.
“Major operators remain unfamiliar with the provisions of these laws while illegal mining activities continue to undermine government revenue, environmental sustainability and the integrity of the sector,” he said.
Opusingi said those challenges made the summit necessary, particularly as the Rivers chapter marked two years of its current leadership.
The summit, themed “Repositioning the Mining Sector in Rivers State for Optimal Beneficiation to All Stakeholders,” was designed to bring regulators, operators, host communities and professionals together to discuss how mining activities in the state could be better organised and made more beneficial to all parties.
Resource persons were drawn from the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Revenue Service and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, reflecting the legal, revenue and compliance questions surrounding mining operations.
The discussions ultimately returned to the same concern raised by both government and operators: Nigeria possesses the minerals, but extracting them alone will not deliver the desired economic benefits.
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