By Udeme Akpan
Spaces for Change (S4C), Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), and other stakeholders have called for a sustainable development of Nigeria’s mineral sector with increased participation of host communities.
The stakeholders made the call at the ongoing National Extractive Dialogue 2025 (NED) with the theme, “Transitions, Divestments and Critical Minerals: Charting A Just Future for Nigeria’s Extractive Sector”, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, adding that harnessing Nigeria’s critical minerals is necessary for the global clean energy transition.
Executive Director, Spaces for Change, Mrs Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, said that as the world races towards energy transition, Nigeria should make informed choices on regulation, environmental accountability and community protection.
She said: “The exploration and production of oil and gas have already impacted the communities. The environment has not been restored before the International Oil Companies, IoCs, divestment of assets to indigenous companies. We should not allow what happened to oil and gas communities to be extended to the mining sector.”
Similarly, Executive Secretary, NEITI, Dr Orji Orji, said that NEITI has already established a data centre to automate and centralise extractive sector data.
He said: “When fully operational, the data centre will centralise licensing, production, revenue, and export data across oil, gas, and solid mineral sectors.
“It will enhance transparency and accountability in the sector, and enable automated disclosures by companies in line with NEITI standards.”
On his part, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Senator Ekong Sampson, said: “The Senate is committed to the sustainable development of the sector. We have visited some mining sites that looked like mass graves. Operators must be held accountable for their actions or activities’’.
Also, Mr Gaza Gbefwi, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals, expressed the need for urgent policy actions towards harnessing Nigeria’s critical minerals that were essential for the global clean energy transition.
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