The Missing Exports and Hidden Royalties – Gold
By Biliyaminu Suraj Nigerian Federal Government authorities do not publish any reliable data about the export of lithium nor gold despite the continuous hype from Minister Alake about the alleged billions of dollars of foreign investment in Lithium production. In Part 1 of THE MISSING EXPORTS AND HIDDEN ROYALTIES, we examined Nigeria’s Lithium exports and the royalties that should be generated by these exports. In Part 2 we examine gold exports and the royalties due to Nigeria. In Part 1 we saw the lack of transparency and accountability of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development (MSMD) and the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) in failing to publish operator-level royalty and production data disaggregated by mineral type. Hence, as explained in Part 1, we must rely on mirror data for trade statistics as recorded by the importing country rather than by Nigeria’s own authorities. The two primary destinations for Nigeria’s lithium and gold exports are China and UAE respecti...