A resource-governance expert warns that Nigeria’s minerals push could repeat the failures of oil unless contracts, revenues and community consent are handled differently.
The warning from the Natural Resource Governance Institute is blunt: Nigeria has spent nearly seven decades producing oil without turning the revenue into broad-based development. Its minerals push risks repeating that pattern.
The test is not the number of licences announced. It is whether contracts are published, royalties are collected, host communities consent to projects and the environment is protected after the excavators leave.
This analysis draws on Premium Times’ interview with NRGI’s Nigeria country manager, Tengi George-Ikoli. The policy choice is straightforward: use the minerals boom to build institutions and diversify the economy, or allow another extractive cycle to enrich a narrow group.
Source: Premium Times. Image: Premium Times.