File photo: Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals The Federal Government on Wednesday launched the Early-Stage Mineral Exploration and Research Grant Endowment programme, known as EMERGE, in a fresh push to accelerate mineral exploration, support research institutions and promote local processing of Nigeria’s mineral resources.
The initiative, unveiled in Abuja by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, is expected to provide catalytic funding for explorers, universities and companies involved in critical minerals development while addressing financing gaps that have hindered the growth of the mining sector.
Speaking at the launch, Alake described the programme as a strategic intervention under the Federal Government’s reform agenda aimed at repositioning the solid minerals sector as a major contributor to economic diversification and industrial development. According to him, the initiative, to be implemented through the Solid Minerals Development Fund, represents a deliberate effort to transform Nigeria’s mineral wealth into sustainable prosperity.
“The clearest proof of all this sits in federation revenues,” Alake said. “In 2023, this sector earned the Federation about N16bn. In 2024, that figure rose to N38bn. In 2025, it crossed N70bn. That is growth of more than 337 per cent in two years from the same minerals, the same ground, governed differently.” The minister explained that EMERGE would operate through three streams: Exploration, Critical Minerals, and Research and Development.
“This brings me to EMERGE and to why it matters so much. EMERGE works through three streams. The Exploration Stream funds the grassroots, early-stage work that finds and proves new mineral deposits. Related News SAN calls for legal reforms to boost automotive sector growth FG backs Mining Marshals, warns illegal miners Group seeks decentralisation of solid minerals sector “The Critical Minerals Stream funds both the search for the minerals that the global energy transition demands and the processing technologies that allow us to refine them here in Nigeria.
The Research and Development Stream funds the geoscience and mineral-processing research that underpins all of this,” he stated. Alake said the programme would strengthen the implementation of the ministry’s Seven-Point Agenda by generating reliable mineral data and promoting domestic value addition.
He added that applications would be assessed strictly on merit and administered independently by PwC to ensure transparency and accountability. Earlier, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Hajiya Fatima Umaru Shinkafi, said EMERGE was designed to address the shortage of early-stage financing in the mining industry.
“EMERGE, the Early-Stage Mineral Exploration and Research Grant Endowment, is a competitively awarded grant facility designed to address one of the most persistent gaps in our sector: the shortage of early-stage capital for exploration, for critical minerals and for research and development,” she said.
Shinkafi noted that the programme forms part of broader efforts to stimulate private-sector participation in mining and support value addition within Nigeria’s solid minerals sector. The initiative, unveiled in Abuja by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, is expected to provide catalytic funding for explorers, universities and companies involved in critical minerals development while addressing financing gaps that have hindered the growth of the mining sector.
Shinkafi noted that the programme forms part of broader efforts to stimulate private-sector participation in mining and support value addition within Nigeria’s solid minerals sector. Speaking at the launch, Alake described the programme as a strategic intervention under the Federal Government’s reform agenda aimed at repositioning the solid minerals sector as a major contributor to economic diversification and industrial development.