Chinese Miners Dominate Nigeria With Zero Economic Benefit

• Chinese Miners Dominate Nigeria With Zero Economic Benefit

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, has said despite Chinese miners dominating the mining sector, they contributed nothing to the nation’s growth.

The Minister made a statement at a workshop organised by the ministry in collaboration with the Lagos Business School in Abuja.

According to him, Chinese companies alongside other Asians remain key players in the exploitation of solid minerals in Nigeria, with Nigerian operators playing minor roles.

These Chinese firms exported unprocessed solid minerals from Nigeria without adding any value to the commodities, meaning they were not creating jobs through the value chain process.

Yearly, more than 35 million metric tonnes of unprocessed solid minerals are exported from Nigeria, yet no plan to process these minerals in the country.

The minister said, “The dominance of China and other Asian countries in the Nigerian solid mineral sector has contributed little to the value chain in the sector.

“China dominates mining in Nigeria with minimal roles for Nigerian firms.”