Beaming the Light on a Hidden Sector: Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) as a vital sector for sustainable development in Nigeria

December 30, 2023

Despite the enormous potential of the mining sector to accelerate Nigeria’s economic prosperity and sustainable development, several factors have continued to impede the sector’s capacity to perform optimally

Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM), as a largely informal poverty-driven activity, can be environmentally damaging often posing serious health and safety consequences for workers and surrounding communities, with little economic benefit. Yet, if properly harnessed, it offers huge potentials for increased household income, MSME growth, government revenues, and progress towards achieving several sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Nigeria is a country endowed with abundant mineral resources that spread across over 500 locations in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Despite the enormous potential of the mining sector to accelerate Nigeria’s economic prosperity and sustainable development, several factors have continued to impede the sector’s capacity to perform optimally. Before the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the late 1950s, the mining sector was the pillar of the Nigerian economy and a major industrial capital, with its proceeds used to sustain civil service at the time.

Today, the sector contributes a negligible fraction of revenues to government and the Nigerian economy largely due to their informal set-up, as artisanal and small-scale miners dominate over 70% of the Nigerian mining landscape.

Many of the potential economic benefits of the small-scale mining sector are lost due to poor practices in the mining, processing, and marketing of target minerals. Moreover, the lack of an effective regulatory and policy framework also prevents the formalization of the ASM sector, and makes improvements in revenues as well as environmental and health outcomes more problematic. Furthermore, the absence of adequate legal frameworks and secure rights for miners and communities exacerbates this problem.

Artisanal and smallscale miners are often marginalized with tendencies for serious disputes and conflicts arising with communities, government agencies and large-scale mining interests. This further makes improvements in the livelihoods of miners, wellbeing of their dependent communities as well as government’s revenue and development targets difficult to achieve.

These and other problems commonly associated with ASM (such as child labour and access to education) present a major challenge to the government and regulatory authorities in countries including Nigeria where these activities take place, as well as to the wider development community.

While several attempts have been made to revamp the ASM sector in Nigeria, it is clear that there is still a lot to be done. Particularly, there is a need to strengthen the legal, regulatory, and institutional framework to support the formalization and positioning of ASMs as budding MSMEs, while also providing the appropriate conditions to attract foreign investments in the sector towards Nigeria’s sustainable development.

It will also be expedient to support ASMs in improving their mining, processing and marketing practices towards increased revenue generation

Amongst other areas, the legal and regulatory framework needs to take consideration for the rights of miners and communities, while bridging the clashes between the federal and state governments with regards to the administration of land and mineral resources. It will also be expedient to support ASMs in improving their mining, processing and marketing practices towards increased revenue generation. Furthermore, ASM workers need to be well-trained and equipped to minimize their environmental impact and improve their health/safety practices, which can have adverse impact not only on the workers but also on surrounding community members overtime. The issues of child labor and constrained access to education for children working in the ASM sites (with /without their parents) is also a critical component that needs to be addressed.

If Nigeria is to benefit from the ASMs as a vital source for resource mobilization and progress at achieving the sustainable development goals, the Nigerian government will need to address the key issues.

It is in this regard that the United Nations Development Programe (UNDP) and the European Union (EU) in collaboration with the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) through the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) embarked on a series of activities towards addressing some of these issues. In particular, the project aims to provide evidence-based knowledge on the key issues for the ASM sector while equipping responsible government stakeholders with the right knowledge, exposure and international best practices for addressing identified issues. The project also takes a further step to provide support for the formalization of ASMs (selected from the sites used for the case study).

The issues of child labor and constrained access to education for children working in the ASM sites (with /without their parents) is also a critical component that needs to be addressed.

The formalization support provided include full registration and certificate issuance alongside series of trainings on environmental, health and revenue generation. It is our hope that these activities and others in the pipeline will contribute towards a wide-scale formalization of ASMs and a review of the framework for solid mineral development in Nigeria towards improving domestic resource mobilization and sustainable development outcomes in the country. The series of outputs/activities implemented so far through the project include:

A needs assessment of artisanal and small-scale miners in pilot mining sites in Jos, Plateau state as a case study to understand the specific context, challenges and opportunities for ASM workers, site managers and others along the value chain;
A study tour of Ethiopia’s formalized ASM mining sites and engagement with the AU’s African Minerals Development Center (AMDC) by officials of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) to draw lessons and learn best practices on ASM formalization;
Policy advocacy with relevant government executives and civil society organizations in Plateau state on ASM formalization policy;
Engagement with the Nigerian Customs Services (Lagos state port authorities) on ASM mineral export;
Series of training on safety, environment, and revenues for 123 ASMs (53 females, 70 males) in a cluster of six ASM Cooperatives selected from the pilot mining sites – to equip them with the right knowledge and tools for increased revenue generation as well as the health, safety and environmental wellbeing of ASM workers and their communities;
Provision of machines and working tools to the 123 trained ASMs grouped in six cooperatives, and formal registration with certificate issuance for these ASMs cooperatives at both state and federal levels;
Policy dialogue with the Nigerian legislatures (Senate and House of Representative Committee on Solid Mineral) to report on the issues towards collaboration in addressing them.

Photo credit: UNDP - A. ASM training on safety, environment, and revenues |B. Presentation of equipment and formal registration certificates to ASMs |C. Officials from Nigeria’s RMAFC, SMDF and UNDP on a study visit to Ethiopia’s Ministry of Mines |D. Engagement with the Nigerian Customs Services on ASM mineral export |E. Certificate of Registration for one of the ASM cooperatives |F. Policy dialogue with legislature on ASM formalization policy.

Note to Editors:

About UNDP

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is United Nations lead agency on international development, working in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. UNDP supports countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, and institutional capabilities to create integrated and lasting solutions towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas: sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. In Nigeria, UNDP provides technical and policy development support to the Federal Government of Nigeria and supports the implementation of interventions across various thematic areas to meet the medium to long-term national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Learn more: https://www.undp.org/nigeria

About Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF)

The Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) is an approach to help countries strengthen their planning and financing processes and overcome existing impediments to financing sustainable development at the national level. The Nigeria INFF aims to support the Government of Nigeria in mobilizing greater amounts of private and public resources to finance its sustainable development goals in line with national priorities. The implementation of the INFF leverages both conventional and innovative financing mechanisms while tackling the barriers to public and private sector participation towards addressing financing needs for economic recovery, to put the Nigerian economy back on a path towards achieving the SDGs. The INFF is an initiative of the Federal Government whose Steering Committee is chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, with Secretarial support from the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs (OSSAP-SDGs). Global: https://inff.org/ | Nigeria:https://www.undp.org/nigeria/publications/nigeria-integrated-national-financing-framework

For more information, please contact:

Precious Akanonu

National Economist, UNDP Nigeria

precious.akanonu@undp.org

For media inquiries, please contact:

Christabel Chanda-Ginsberg

Public Engagement Outreach and Partnerships Lead, UNDP Nigeria.

christabel.chanda-ginsberg@undp.org