Alake denies $700bn mineral sale to US, inaugurates joint committee
- Dele Alake says Nigeria did not sell $700bn of solid minerals to the United States.
- He spoke in Abuja as a Nigeria-US committee on solid minerals cooperation was inaugurated.
- A US embassy official said a contract was signed to explore AI data centres in Nigeria.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has denied reports that Nigeria sold $700 billion worth of solid minerals to the United States, saying no national asset has changed hands.
Alake spoke in Abuja on Tuesday while inaugurating the Nigeria-United States Committee on Strategic Cooperation in the Solid Minerals Sector. The committee follows a cooperation framework both countries agreed at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
"There is no sale of any Nigerian asset. There's nothing exchanging hands," Alake said, according to a statement from the ministry's press office.
He said the memorandum of understanding is a government-to-government platform meant to bring American investors together with Nigerian mining operators, not to transfer ownership of the country's minerals. He added that the agreement was signed publicly and published in several national newspapers.
Alake also dismissed claims that the US was coming to take over Nigeria's mineral resources and security architecture, calling them false.
What Nigeria wants from the deal
The minister said Nigeria has long exported raw ore while other countries earned more by processing it. Under the new arrangement, he said, investors bring capital, expertise and technology to work with Nigerian resources.
"The investor gains, Nigeria gains," he said.
He said the Federal Government now requires investors seeking mineral titles to show a clear plan to process minerals inside the country. According to him, the policy has helped attract processing plants, including a lithium processing facility in Nasarawa State that Vice-President Kashim Shettima recently commissioned.
Alake linked renewed investor interest to President Bola Tinubu's economic reforms, which he said assure investors of security of tenure and allow them to repatriate profits. He told the committee its work is central to the President's target of a $1 trillion economy.
The ministry's Permanent Secretary, Faruk Yusuf Yabo, said the committee would turn growing bilateral contacts into a structured plan for cooperation and investment.
US side eyes AI data centres
Jonathan Baas, an economic officer at the US Embassy, said Washington has prioritised energy, artificial intelligence and critical minerals in the work it gives its embassies. He said the US wants partnerships that secure supplies of critical minerals while letting partner countries gain economically from their resources.
Baas also said a contract had been signed to explore building AI data centres in Nigeria, announced at the Nigerian Economic Summit.
The Managing Director of the Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, Martins Imonite, said the committee will coordinate implementation, support investment and track progress.
What happens next: The committee is expected to identify investment opportunities under the framework and report on results. For ordinary Nigerians, the test will be whether the push for local processing brings factories, jobs and more earnings from minerals beyond oil.
