The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has called on the Federal Government to make the mining sector in Northern Nigeria a national priority, describing it as a potential game-changer for industrial growth, job creation, and poverty reduction.
Speaking at the maiden Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialisation Summit in Abuja, the forum’s chairman said the region is home to vast mineral resources that remain largely untapped despite their potential to transform the economy and improve livelihoods.
He noted that with the right infrastructure, including roads, railways, and electricity — mining could rival agriculture as a major driver of industrialisation and inclusive growth. He recalled how Northern Nigeria thrived in the 1960s and 1970s through commodities like cotton, groundnuts, and tobacco before the discovery of oil shifted attention away from other productive sectors.
The summit, themed “Unlocking Northern Nigeria’s Mining, Agricultural and Power Potentials (MAP2035),” was presented as a 10-year blueprint for the region’s socio-economic transformation.
NEF emphasised that unlocking the full potential of the mining sector will require deliberate collaboration between government, private investors, and development partners. Such partnerships, it said, are critical to driving mining reforms, attracting investments, and positioning Northern Nigeria as an economic powerhouse capable of contributing significantly to national development.
