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The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has called on policymakers to ensure a harmonised, transparent, and predictable regulatory framework for Nigeria’s solid minerals sector to sustain growth and attract long-term capital investments.
The government agency said its findings show significant improvements in licensing processes but called for equal priority to address policy overlaps and multiple taxation, which continue to discourage credible investors and limit sectoral growth.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, made the appeal at the 2025 Nigeria Mining Week held in Abuja, where he also raised the need to address policy overlaps and multiple taxation that continue to discourage credible investors.
According to a statement signed by NEITI’s Deputy Director, Communications, Chris Ochonu, the Executive Secretary stated that Nigeria’s mining sector is undergoing reforms to reposition it as a cornerstone for economic diversification and energy transition strategy.
Citing NEITI’s 2023 Solid Minerals Industry Report, Dr Orji noted that the sector’s contribution to GDP remains below 1%, even though revenues grew modestly from ₦339.57 billion in 2022 to ₦401.87 billion in 2023.
”Despite this growth, the figures are far below the sector’s full potential. Our data reveals that artisanal and small-scale mining accounted for over 80% of total production volumes but contributed less than 30% of royalties paid. This underscores deep governance and structural challenges that demand urgent reform,”Orji said.
He further called for strategic focus on developing critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and manganese to position Nigeria advantageously in the evolving global energy transition landscape, urging stakeholders in the mining community to support government efforts to establish a credible National Mineral Reserve Database accessible to investors and the public.
Orji recommended ”streamlining fiscal and royalty regimes to eliminate duplication, promoting value addition and local processing to retain economic benefits, strengthening environmental, gender, and community development frameworks in host communities, pursuing comprehensive reforms that enhance indigenous participation, protect local jobs, and safeguard national interests.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, described the Nigeria Mining Week as “an emerging global forum generating ideas to guide the nation’s journey toward economic renewal through investor and company collaboration.”
The President emphasized Nigeria’s continental leadership role in resource development, noting that Africa holds about 30% of the world’s known mineral reserves and significant deposits of the critical minerals driving the 21st-century global economy.
“We must harness this wealth responsibly, ensuring that more value remains within our economies, creating jobs and industrial clusters,” the President urged.”
NEITI seeks end to multiple taxation in solid minerals sector
