Nigeria solid minerals development gets support from France

French Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency Marc Fonbaustier has reaffirmed his country’s commitment as Nigeria’s dependable ally in developing the solid minerals sector. In a statement signed by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Segun Tomori, the French Ambassador to Nigeria, reaffirmed his nation’s commitment to remain Nigeria’s formidable ally to unlock the potential in the solid minerals sector while on a courtesy visit at the weekend to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja. According to Fonbaustier, France is fully committed to supporting Nigeria’s roadmap for mining development, with a very keen interest in investing in the rapidly developing solid minerals sector.Meanwhile, Dr Alake acknowledged France’s frontline position among prospective stakeholders who have shown interest in the solid minerals sector.
According to him, France has shown “enthusiasm, commitment, and readiness to implement tangible projects.” The Minister also shared his optimism that the long-standing and robust bilateral relationship between Nigeria and France will be further enhanced “through key initiatives in the solid minerals sector backed by actionable goals with clear timelines.” The Minister reiterated that the core agenda of President Tinubu’s policy initiatives has been the diversification of the economy with emphasis on solid minerals development. He highlighted the imperative of continued engagement with the French team to identify serious French companies interested in the mining sector whilst also fine-tuning areas of collaboration to concretize partnership based on the earlier signed MOU. 
It will be recalled that Nigeria and France signed an MOU late last year on the heels of President Tinubu’s state visit to France to develop joint projects for promotion and diversification of the critical minerals value chain with emphasis on technical assistance, capacity building, and remediation of abandoned pits. Corroborating the ambassador, Deputy Head, Regional economic department of the French embassy, Carole Libreton expressed France’s readiness to fund projects in the mining corporation and collaborate with the ministry to galvanize French companies for development of the mining value chain.  On Ambassador Marc Fonbaustier’s entourage were the French embassy’s head of regional economic department, Florent Mangin and Deputy head, regional economic department, Carole Lebreton.