How Dele Alake is rewriting Nigeria’s mining story

When Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, says Dele Alake has become “a better mining engineer than myself,” Nigerians should pay attention. Not because the statement is flattering, but because it comes from a governor who understands mining, has witnessed the transformation of the sector firsthand and has a front-row seat to the economic possibilities embedded in Nigeria’s mineral wealth.

Sule’s admission was particularly revealing because he confessed that he initially doubted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to appoint a media professional as Minister of Solid Minerals Development. His reasoning was understandable. Mining is technical, complex and capital-intensive. Yet, as the governor acknowledged, Alake quickly immersed himself in the sector, mastered its language and, more importantly, embraced the President’s policy direction with uncommon seriousness.

“He grabbed it, he took it, he’s serious about it,” Sule said. That may well be the most concise description of Alake’s stewardship. The minister has not treated mining as another government portfolio. He has approached it as a strategic instrument for economic transformation.

For decades, Nigeria behaved as though possessing mineral deposits was itself an economic achievement. It was not. The real value lies in what happens after discovery: exploration, responsible extraction, processing, manufacturing, employment, exports, technology transfer and government revenue. Alake’s policy emphasis on local processing and value addition therefore represents a significant departure from the old extract-and-export model.

The results are beginning to show. The Federal Government reported that revenue from solid minerals increased from about ₦6 billion in 2023 to more than ₦38 billion in 2024, and moved up to N71 billion by 2025, while more than $2.6 billion in processing projects were attracted to the sector. These figures matter because they demonstrate that reform is moving beyond speeches into measurable economic activity.

Nasarawa offers perhaps the most compelling case study. The state’s lithium resources have attracted international attention, while a major lithium processing facility has positioned the state closer to the global critical-minerals value chain. The Federal Government has described the facility as West Africa’s largest lithium processing plant, with a reported processing capacity of 6,000 metric tonnes daily.

Sule’s story of a major Chinese lithium buyer sending a customised aircraft to bring him and the governor of Zamfara to China may sound dramatic, but its policy implication is more important than the spectacle. It demonstrates that Nigerian minerals are increasingly being viewed as strategic assets in global supply chains.

This is where Alake’s contribution becomes particularly significant. His ministry is helping to reposition mining from an informal, poorly integrated activity into a structured economic sector capable of attracting serious investment, supporting industrialisation and generating sustainable public revenue.

The challenges remain substantial: illegal mining, insecurity, environmental concerns, geological data, infrastructure and host-community benefits cannot be wished away. But successful policy is not the absence of challenges. It is the capacity to build institutions capable of confronting them.

Perhaps that is why Sule’s praise resonates. He began as a sceptic and ended as a witness. The consumate, astute media man did not need to become a geologist to make an impact. He needed to understand the policy, master the brief and deliver.

And by the governor’s own account, Dele Alake has done precisely that, he has acquitted himself creditably.

Arabinrin Aderonke is an award-winning investigative journalist, 2016 finalist, CNN African Journalist Award. Author and Policy analyst. She writes from Abuja