Abuja: The Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) has emphasized the critical role of strong financing frameworks in unlocking Nigeria’s vast mineral wealth, which is crucial for driving national development. This was highlighted during a workshop titled ‘Building a Sustainable Finance Framework for Nigeria,’ held in Abuja. The event, organized by the Ore Reserve Development Forum (ORDF) in collaboration with SMDF, brought together stakeholders from miners, financial institutions, government agencies, regulators, and industry experts.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Hajiya Fatima Shinkafi, Executive Director of SMDF, represented by Dr. Martina Ananaba, Head of the Minerals and Projects Development Department, described the inaugural workshop as a significant step towards strengthening and expanding financing frameworks in mining operations. She noted that the partnership between ORDF and SMDF aims to bridge the gap between geological potential and bankable projects, thereby attracting both local and global capital to Nigeria’s mining sector.
Despite Nigeria’s possession of strategic and precious minerals in commercial quantities, Shinkafi highlighted the necessity of a robust financing framework to fully harness this potential. She explained that the Renewed Hope Agenda prioritizes industrialization and local content development, which are vital for economic diversification and positioning mining as a new economic pillar.
Shinkafi elaborated on the importance of mining finance, stating it is the mechanism that transforms geological potential into economic performance, contributing to jobs, revenue, industrial capacity, and prosperity. She pointed out that without structured finance, promising mineral deposits remain unexploited, thus failing to contribute to national development.
The executive director also addressed the fundamental credibility and capacity gap in the mining sector, where many operations are trapped in artisanal methods with crude tools and manual processes, rendering them unsuitable for formal financing. She noted that the real challenge extends beyond access to capital to include the lack of bankable projects, inconsistent geological reporting, and technical limitations that deter investor confidence.
Shinkafi emphasized the need for transparent systems, standardized reporting, credible data, technical capacity building, and clear financing frameworks to upgrade operational standards and unlock capital flow. The workshop aimed to co-design a practical Mining Finance Framework, establishing clear reporting standards, defining suitable financing instruments for each project stage, and creating enabling policy environments.
In his remarks, Malami Saidu, Chairman of ORDF, expressed the forum’s goal to support junior mining and exploration companies in elevating their standards to globally acceptable levels. Saidu highlighted the importance of exploration in the mineral development value chain, noting its expense and risk. He stated that the workshop sessions would provide a strategic platform to align with internationally benchmarked reserve classification systems, optimized financing structures, and necessary institutional collaboration to unlock bankable mineral projects.