By Dada Olusegun
President Bola Tinubu as part of his global diplomatic shuttles to seek out more development opportunities for Nigeria through forging of partnerships with other nations, undertook a state visit to France. President Tinubu’s trip to France was the first State Visit by a Nigerian President to France in 24 years and it signalled an evolution of relations between Nigeria and Europe’s third-largest economy, France.
During the two-day state visit, Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron led their respective countries’ delegations to negotiate and sign far-reaching mutual agreements across multiple areas of cooperation at the Champs-Élysées. However, the one that has generated the most controversy, albeit unnecessarily, is the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two nations in the solid minerals sector.
Following the signing of the MoU, many individuals and vested interests erroneously began to propagate the narrative that Nigeria is handing over mining rights in the mineral sector to France while some peddled the falsehood that President Tinubu is weakening Nigeria’s national security by his pursuit of closer ties with France. To dispel these baseless insinuations, I will break down the contents of the MoU itself so that Nigerians would understand what exactly is in the MoU.
What was in the MoU?
1. Agreement to develop JOINT projects aimed at promoting and diversifying the critical minerals value chain in the solid minerals sectors of both countries. Key minerals of interest include copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements which are essential components of clean energy technologies. If and when any French company, either singly or in joint participation with a Nigerian company, wants to start actual mining of any solid mineral in Nigeria, they MUST apply and obtain MINING LICENCE from the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development in accordance with The Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act, 2007. The MoU therefore has no provision granting automatic mining rights or license to any company, whether French or Nigerian.
2. Agreement to collaborate in areas of research, training, and student exchange programmes between Franco-Nigerian institutions to facilitate knowledge and skills transfer in areas of solid minerals development. What this place is simply talking about is that higher institutions of learning in the two countries will work closely together (especially University departments relevant to solid minerals development such as Geology, Geology and Mining etc) to increase the capacity of Nigerian students to add value to the vast amount of solid minerals we have lying idle across the country.
This clause speaks specifically to transferring knowledge from French institutions to students and staff members of yet-to-be-selected Nigerian tertiary institutions. There would also be various joint research works by students and academic staff members from both France and Nigeria in the solid mineral fields. This is about improving the study of Geology in Nigeria and has absolutely nothing to do with granting a mining licence to anyone.
3. Agreement to adopt international best practices in the execution of projects conceptualized to improve the conditions of the local populace affected by mining while placing a premium on transparency. This particular clause once again has nothing to do with the granting of mining licenses or rights. It is essentially targeted at the many communities across mining sites that are suffering from environmental degradation caused by mining activities close to them. This is an often overlooked problem and it is common to see mining companies explore and extract solid minerals and end up polluting the surrounding air or water which nearby communities rely on without carrying out remediation works. This clause talks about changing that narrative and adopting transparency while executing such remediation projects.
4. Agreement to open new opportunities for the remediation of over 2,000 abandoned mining pits in the country through its plan to intervene in environmental rehabilitation and post-mining projects. This particular clause, again, has nothing to do with mining rights or even mining at all but is meant to help communities that have to live with the consequences of mining activities with no plans by those responsible to carry out any remediation works. Here over 2000 abandoned mining pits are being targeted for remediation.
5. Agreement to carry out regular BILATERAL and MULTILATERAL training, seminars, and events to improve the capacity of administrators of institutions in the critical metals sector to manage the sector’s value chain. This particular clause once again speaks to capacity building and value addition to our solid mineral resources.
No cause for alarm
From the foregoing, it is clear that the misgivings and fears from some quarters over the MoU signed between Nigeria and France on solid minerals development are unfounded because the Memorandum of Understanding never and will never under any circumstances grant blanket mining rights to any entity whether foreign or local. Every entity that seeks to obtain a mining licence will eventually follow the procedures outlined in the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act. There are no shortcuts.
However, it must be stated that with Nigeria’s quest to diversify our economy from over-reliance on oil revenues, we do not have a choice but to pursue and seek large investments in our solid minerals sectors. Nigeria is massively endowed with many solid minerals, which are very critical to the expansion of clean energy solutions, especially as the world moves to a sustainable energy future. These minerals won’t extract themselves or add value to themselves, they require massive investments to bring them up from the ground, refine them and most importantly process them into value-added products before export. The scale of these investments and technologies needed for now can only realistically come from many foreign entities. This is why the federal government is actively seeking collaborations under bilateral or even multilateral arrangements to help Nigeria translate our solid minerals potential into visible products and a source of prosperity for our nation and its people.
The notion that the pivot to France is dangerous should be jettisoned by those holding such views. For example, in this solid minerals collaboration, it is not something that happened without careful thinking. France is home to a lot of major mining companies that are market leaders in the world. They boast large portfolios and already have both the technological capacity and financial muscle to mine and add value to solid minerals. So, collaborating with such entities to develop our solid minerals sector is a very welcome partnership – one which is mutually beneficial to both countries.
It must be pointed out that the fact that France’s former colonies in West Africa are increasingly severing certain ties with France does not mean Nigeria would distance itself from France because their strategic interests differ from our strategic interests. Crucially, Nigeria is a huge country that right from our independence has maintained a strategic policy of non-alignment. This is because Nigeria aims to partner with countries based on mutual interests and not to be drawn into geopolitical squabbles. Nigeria is a big country that cannot be subjugated by any country. However, we need friends across the globe if we are to become a very important player and power in the global sphere.
It is also necessary to state that France is Nigeria’s sixth-largest trading partner. In the first half of 2024, trade with France amounted to N4.41 trillion. Nigeria exported goods worth N3.94 trillion and imported N473.26 billion, achieving a trade surplus of N3.47 trillion. Key exports were petroleum oils, natural gas, and frozen shrimp. It therefore doesn’t make economic sense not to further collaborate with this critical trading partner in other areas of opportunities such as solid minerals on account of France’s sour relations with its former colonies. All I can tell my fellow compatriots is to keep calm because there is no cause for alarm!