By Mary Izuaka

 

Nigeria and the United States have signed a landmark framework agreement to pave the way for American investment in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector, estimated to be worth about $700 billion.

The agreement was signed on Wednesday at the Nigeria Mission House in New York by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and the US Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau. 

Both officials later exchanged the signed documents at the ceremony, Kehinde Bamigbetan, special adviser to Mr Alake said in a statement on Thursday.

The agreement, according to the statement, is expected to use the Nigeria-US government relationship as a foundation for business-to-business transactions to boost Nigeria’s value-addition-driven value chain.

Not just raw materials

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Alake said the agreement would shape the future of Nigeria-US economic relations and strengthen secure and resilient supply chains for critical minerals.

“Some agreements manage the present, and some agreements shape the future. The framework we sign today belongs to the second kind,” the minister said.

“In signing this Framework, Nigeria and the United States affirm a shared conviction: that the supply chains for these critical minerals must be secure, resilient and built on responsible investment.”

He stressed that Nigeria would not remain a supplier of raw materials.

“But let me be clear about Nigeria’s ambition. We are not here to remain a source of raw material for the values that others create. Our goal is to turn potential into lasting value at home through stronger local processing, new skills, quality jobs, and new opportunities for Nigerian businesses,” he said.

Mr Alake said the framework covers cooperation on geological data and exploration, mineral development and processing, infrastructure development, and technical capacity building.

He said the implementation will achieve the economic diversification goals of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and boost industrial growth.

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“Now comes the harder and more important work: moving from agreement to implementation. A signature is a promise, results are the proof. In the months ahead, we will identify viable projects, mobilise investments and build the commercial partnerships that deliver measurable benefits to our nations,” he added.

US pledges deeper partnership

In his remarks, Mr Landau said the United States was pleased to partner with Nigeria, which he described as Africa’s most populous country and fastest-growing economy.

“The signal we are sending is that the United States and Nigeria are partners,” he said.

“Under President Trump and President Tinubu’s leadership, the United States and Nigeria have done many things together in the last one and a half years that we’ve never done before. I think we will like to keep building on that momentum.”

He said the agreement would bring greater prosperity to both countries and support Nigeria’s economic growth.