The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has said that mining development grants would be awarded strictly on merit and not on the basis of personal connections.
Alake stated this during the official unveiling of the Early-Stage Mineral Exploration and Research Grant Endowment (EMERGE) Programme, designed to boost mineral exploration, research and development in Nigeria.
EMERGE, comprising three streams, is funded and implemented by the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), with Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), serving as its programme administration partner.
The programme aims to support early-stage mineral exploration, strengthen research capacity and advance mineral-processing research that adds value to Nigeria’s mineral resources through competitively awarded grants.
The minister said beneficiaries of the grant would be chosen strictly on the strength of their proposals, stressing that there would be no shortcuts, as only the quality of submissions would determine access to the grant.
“EMERGE will be transparent and competitive from beginning to end.
“Applications will be assessed strictly on merit and the process is independently administered by PwC, our Programme Administration Partner, to guarantee transparency, accountability and a level playing field for every applicant,” he said.
He said that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, the government was offering purposeful, dedicated grants for geoscience and mineral-processing research, as well as mining operators as part of its commitment to reposition the sector.
“The next breakthrough in how we process our lithium, our gold or our rare earths could come from a laboratory in one of our own universities and EMERGE exists to find it and to fund it.
“With catalytic grants at the start, de-risking and co-funding in the middle and an accelerator to carry you toward private investment mining, entrepreneurs in this country have honestly never had it this good.
“The support is here, what remains is for you to apply,” he said.
