The Minister of Solid Mineral, Dr Dele Alake on Wednesday said the country is committed to upscaling its solid mineral industrialisation and value addition as a nation.
Alake disclosed this at the 10th Nigeria Energy Forum (NEF) Conference and Exhibition with the theme “Decade of Energy Transition for Economic Prosperity” held in Lagos.
Alake, represented by Dr Obadiah Nkom, Director General, Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office, said Nigeria’s mineral endowment is vast, yet its economic impact on the nation remains limited.
“This conference is a strategic step to reposition the sector for sustainable growth and in alignment with our National priorities under Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu administration.
“The government is prioritizing policies that will attract investments in mineral processing plants, refinery projects, and finished goods production within Nigeria
“This approach will create jobs for millions of Nigerians, build local capacity, and position Nigeria as a competitive hub for critical minerals and mineral-based products in Africa,” he said.
Engr Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), represented by Barr. Naboth Onyesoh, Director of Legal Services, said the objectives of the board are to promote and enforce the development of indigenous capabilities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
“This involves encouraging local manufacturing, technology transfer, human capital development, and the utilization of locally produced goods and services.
Mr Seye Bassir, Investment Director, AII On, said the federal government had a lot of policy around the energy transition and climate change.
‘What they need to do is to coordinate better and maybe consolidate all of those efforts into the right kind of instrument.
Also, Ms Marit Kitaw, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said key constraint to green mineral industrialisation includes limited infrastructure and energy access for processing.
Engr Michael Oluwagbemi, the Programme Director, Presidential Compress Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGi) said the initiative supported the establishment of 1,000 auto-gas conversion workshop by 2027.
The Director said the aim was to convert 250,000 vehicles annually creating 250,000 jobs and support training of 25,000 technicians.
In his remarks, Dr Daniel Adeuyi, the Chairman, NEF, said the 2025 NEF theme, followed successful engagement of over 8,000 global stakeholders and facilitation of USD70m financing and facility for clean energy projects across previous editions.
According to him, this has demonstrated NEF’s capacity to transform convenings to capital.
“That is why NEF 2025 focused on practical action.
“It will mobilize multimillion USD investments for green mineral industrialization and value addition supported by UNECA,” he said.
Engr Adekunle Makinde, the NEF 2025 Co-chair said the activities of Forum have been able to lift people out of energy poverty in so many areas.
“Quite a number of young people are now employers of labor, through the activities of Forum have made a lot of impacts, even in the academia, in the industry, there have been a lot of synergies here and there.”
Ibrironke Olubamise, National Coordinator for GEF-SGP UNDP in Nigeria highlighted the success story of addressing environmental challenges in remote communities by working with NGOs and CBOs.
The conference showcased impact project video documentaries GEF-SGP UNDP projects for powering potable water purification in Makoko Lagos state, to transforming moringa into biofuels in Oyo state.
Other projects highlighted youth-led digital innovations that repurpose plastic waste in Abuja, and decarbonizing Shea Butter agro-processing in Nassarawa, using LPG cooking solutions to displace felling of Shea trees for fuel wood.
Project grantees expressed satisfaction in helping to address environmental challenges in rural seeing people as the grassroot smile.
Building on its 10-year trajectory, NEF in conjunction with All On, an impact investment firm, spotlighted and awarded grants to tertiary institutions student-led energy innovations (TIEC3.0).
TIEC3.0 attracted 93 energy innovation pitch decks from teams comprising over 400 students and gathered innovations from across 35 institutions during the 2025 edition of the Forum.
Top 3 Winners were awarded grand Prizes to upscale their project ideas.
First Prize of 2 million naira was awarded to Green Preserve, led by Febechi Desmond Uzomadike, a 100-level student of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cross River State.
The public voting process attracted over 50,000 votes in 10 days, and the Public Vote winner prize of additional 500,000 naira was awarded to Green Preserve.
AI Hybrid Agri Dryer from University of Lagos received second prize of 1.5 million naira, while third prize of 1 million naira went to Keytric, University of Port Harcourt.
The most successful TIEC projects will be invited to showcase progress at the NEF2025 Day 2 to be held virtually on 20th November