Nigeria’s lithium processing has attracted over $1.3 billion from Chinese investors since President Bola Tinubu’s administration took office in May 2023, according to the minister of solid minerals development, Dele Alake.
Segun Tomori, the special assistant on media to the minister, in a statement on Sunday, said that Mr Alake made the disclosure while speaking at the 2025 China Mining Conference in Tianjin.
“Since September 2023, when this administration assumed office, Chinese companies such as Canmax Technology, Jiuling Lithium, Avatar New Energy Nigeria Company, and Asba have invested over $1.3 billion in lithium processing,” Mr Alake said.
Such investments have boosted Nigeria’s economic diversification efforts, cut back its dependency on oil and attracted infrastructure, technology transfer and expertise, he remarked, adding that joint ventures between Chinese and Nigerian companies in the mining sector often enhance local capabilities and skills among Nigerian workers and engineers.
Lithium, a key ingredient of rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage, is critical for the clean energy transition and is among the major metals that have been fuelling investors’ interest in the Nigerian mining sector since Mr Tinubu named mining among the sectors his administration is targeting to help diversify the economy away from oil.
The surging global demand for the light and silvery metal is opening up a new mining frontier in Nigeria’s central and northern states, where significant reserves have been discovered and processing plants are springing up.
Nigeria, through the minister who chairs the Africa Minerals Strategy Group, is leading a continental campaign to ensure that Africa’s solid minerals are processed or undergo some measure of value addition before they are exported to other parts of the world, a push aimed at making the continent derive significant economic benefits from the value chain.
At the conference in Tianjin, Mr Alake urged investors, development partners, and technical institutions to explore Nigeria’s enormous opportunities in minerals such as lithium, gold, lead-zinc, barite, and rare earth elements.
He noted that the government offers an enabling investment climate, enhanced security of tenure, and benefits that guarantee mutual benefit.
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“Nigeria’s vision is not only to extract minerals but to build a globally competitive value chain that supports clean energy transition, job creation, and industrial growth, all within the framework of responsible mining,” the minister said.
Nigeria, where mining’s contribution to GDP was less than 0.2 per cent in the years between 2018 and 2022, is committing N1 trillion this year alone to fund geo-scientific exploration and develop critical mineral infrastructure.
