Nigeria and France have taken steps to activate the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed last month in Paris, with concrete commitments by France to upgrade the laboratory, provide advanced technological equipment, and fund the exploration of geological data of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA).
This development follows a meeting between the minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, and France’s Interministerial Delegate for Strategic Minerals, Benjamin Gallezot, at the sidelines of the ongoing Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, along with with their teams.
According to a statement by Alake’s special adviser, Kehinde Bamigbetan, made available to journalists on Monday, both ministers also resolved to exchange information on the mining laws of both countries to compare notes on cadastral management and provisions on illegal mining.
It said Gallezot announced that his department was screening a list of French companies that had applied to invest in the Nigerian mining sector and would forward the final list of verified serious investors to the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.
For his part, Alake appreciated Gallezot for working with him to produce the MOU despite the severe time constraints during the visit of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu to French President Emmanuel Macron, adding that attempts by political opponents to misinform the public about the genuine objectives of the MOU had been sufficiently neutralised.He said the Future Minerals Forum allowed both countries to move their understanding forward by designing programmes, policies, and projects to remove doubts about collaboration and generate positive outcomes.
The talks featured issues such as sustainable mining, artisanal mining, geological exploration, cadastral management, training, and funding.In his presentation, the director-general of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), Professor Olusegun Ige, highlighted the agency’s desire to acquire modern advanced technological equipment to enhance the exploration of geological data.
The lack of advanced technological equipment had delayed the exploration of large sheets of mineralised spaces.
He stressed the need to develop local expertise with international exposure because mining is a global business.
In his contribution, the director-general of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, Simon Nkom, suggested a comparison between the mining laws of France and Nigeria, saying it could be helpful in the ongoing review of mining laws.
Executive secretary of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Fund, Hajiya Fatima Shinkafi, in her presentation, proposed the co-funding of early-stage exploration projects by the agency and French financial institutions.She noted that the SMDF had acquired a lot of historical data and best practices from its current collaboration with the Africa Finance Corporation to fund mining entrepreneurs seeking funding for exploration.In his speech, deputy director, Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres (BRGM), the French geological agency, Christophe Poinssot, promised to include Nigeria among the countries benefitting from funds managed by France to build the capacity of geologists in Africa.He revealed that over 1,000 African geologists had benefited from the eight-year fund.
Poinsott also announced that Nigeria would benefit from France’s programme of empowering mining countries by building laboratories for geological analysis, adding that since Nigeria has a laboratory, France would upgrade it to meet international standards.
Gallezot further stated that the proposals at the talks would be discussed at various levels of the government, and a programme for execution worked out.The parties resolved to develop the programme and review the implementation during next month’s annual Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa, the statement noted.
