A media aide to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has dismissed allegations that the minister is favouring Chinese interests in Nigeria’s mining sector, describing the claims as false and politically motivated.
The minister’s special adviser, Kehinde Bamigbetan, made the remarks in a statement issued on Sunday while reacting to an article published by an online platform alleging that the Federal Government was handing Nigeria’s mineral wealth to Chinese investors.
Bamigbetan said the allegations stemmed from the revocation of mining licences belonging to Basin Mining Limited over alleged non-payment of statutory annual service fees.
According to him, the company owed about ₦1.223 billion on five mineral titles when it was served with notices in 2024, with the debt rising to about ₦2.494 billion before the licences were eventually revoked.
“The crux of the matter is that the licence of a Nigerian company, Basin Mining Limited, was revoked for failure to pay the statutory annual service fee,” he said.
He further alleged that a foreign company, Jupiter, which he said was not a party to the licence transaction, subsequently initiated arbitration proceedings against the Federal Government and sponsored what he described as a campaign to discredit the minister.
“Rather than conclude the court process, Jupiter engaged a team of propagandists… in the hallucination that it will bring down the Minister of Solid Minerals Development and precipitate the reversal of the revocation. Pipe dream!” Bamigbetan said.
Responding to allegations that Alake favoured Chinese investors over their Western counterparts, Bamigbetan insisted that the minister’s official engagements reflected a balanced investment drive.
“The allegation that Alake is handing over our mineral wealth to the Chinese betrays abysmal ignorance of the dynamics of Nigeria’s international economic relations,” he said.
He added that the minister had visited China only twice since assuming office—once as part of President Bola Tinubu’s delegation on a state visit and another at the invitation of the Chinese government for China Mining Week 2025.
By contrast, Bamigbetan said Alake had attended several investment and mining conferences in Western countries, including three editions of the London Mines and Money Conference, three Mining Indaba conferences in South Africa and two mining-related engagements in Australia.
According to him, Nigeria’s policy of opening the solid minerals sector to foreign investment predates the current administration, tracing it to the establishment of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission in 1995 and other investment liberalisation reforms.
“Alake did not introduce the policy of opening the Nigerian solid minerals sector to international commerce. That decision was taken long ago in 1995,” he stated.
He said the minister’s reforms had instead focused on enforcing mining regulations, promoting local mineral processing and ensuring greater value addition within Nigeria.
“Several Chinese companies began complying with this directive by building processing factories,” he said, adding that all investors, regardless of nationality, were expected to comply with Nigerian laws.
Bamigbetan also highlighted the long-standing mining cooperation between Nigeria and China, noting that bilateral agreements on geological research and mineral exploration had been in place for more than a decade.
He maintained that the ministry continued to court investors from Europe, North America and Australia, saying more than 300 Western companies currently operate across various segments of Nigeria’s mining industry.
Listing some of the ministry’s achievements, Bamigbetan cited the establishment of the Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, the deployment of Mining Marshals, the commissioning of mineral processing plants and stricter enforcement of mining regulations.
He insisted that the revocation of mining licences was based strictly on regulatory breaches and not on the nationality of affected firms.
“The results of Alake’s management of the solid minerals sector… are visible to the blind,” Bamigbetan said, adding that “no defaulting company can reverse the revocation through propaganda.”
He maintained that the Federal Government would continue to enforce mining laws without fear or favour while encouraging responsible investment from all countries.
