The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has urged the Federal Government to ensure that Nigeria’s mineral resources are used to improve the lives of Nigerians, warning that the country cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of past resource exploitation as it enters a new partnership with the United States valued at an estimated $700 billion.

Prof. Tukur Mohammed-Baba, National Public Secretary of the ACF, made the call in an interview with journalists on Sunday, October 25, 2026, commenting on the Nigeria-US Critical Minerals Framework Agreement signed on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“Mineral exploitation is not new in Africa. The government needs to tell Nigerians what we are getting into with this deal,” Mohammed-Baba said. “When foreigners take our resources without proper processes, it leaves misery and poverty behind.

The lives of 240 million Nigerians are at stake, and our resources should not be used to improve lives in other countries at the expense of our own people”.

Mohammed-Baba said the ACF was not opposed to foreign investment, but insisted that any agreement must be transparent, accountable and structured to deliver tangible benefits to host communities and the wider Nigerian population.

“We want to see the details. What is the framework? What are the terms? What are the safeguards? How are the benefits shared? Nigerians deserve answers to these questions,” he said. “The government must not treat this as a diplomatic photo opportunity. This is about the future of our people”.

He noted that Nigeria’s extractive history — particularly in oil and solid minerals — had often left communities impoverished despite decades of production. “We have seen what happened in the Niger Delta. We have seen what happened in the mining communities of the North. We cannot repeat that mistake,” he said.

Building on Local Value Addition

The ACF secretary said the agreement must prioritise local processing and value addition, rather than the export of raw minerals. He cited the Federal Government’s stated commitment to local beneficiation as a positive sign but said it must be backed by enforceable mechanisms.

“It is not enough to say we will process locally. There must be binding commitments, timelines and penalties for non-compliance. The processing must happen here. The jobs must go to Nigerians. The technology must be transferred,” he said.

Mohammed-Baba also called on the government to ensure that host communities in mineral-rich areas — particularly in the North-West and North-Central regions — are consulted and included in the design of projects.

“The communities that host these minerals must be part of the conversation. They must see the benefits — roads, schools, healthcare, clean water, employment. Otherwise, we are simply repeating the same story,” he said.

The Nigeria-US Critical Minerals Framework Agreement was signed on Wednesday, September 24, 2026, by Minister of Solid Minerals Development Dele Alake and US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. It covers cooperation across geological data and exploration, mineral development and processing, infrastructure and technical capacity.

The Federal Government has valued Nigeria’s mining sector at approximately $700 billion and says the framework will attract American investment and technology while ensuring local processing and value addition. US officials have described Nigeria as a regional power and an important partner in diversifying critical minerals supply chains.

Mohammed-Baba’s comments add to a growing debate over whether Nigeria can translate the agreement into tangible benefits. Critics have noted that the framework is a Memorandum of Understanding rather than a legally binding treaty, and that previous investment announcements in the mining sector have yet to translate into large-scale production.

The ACF secretary urged the National Assembly to scrutinise the agreement and ensure that it is accompanied by a clear implementation plan. “The legislature must not be a rubber stamp. They must ask the hard questions, and they must hold the executive accountable,” he said.

The ACF’s intervention reflects broader northern concerns about how Nigeria’s mineral wealth is managed. The North is home to significant deposits of lithium, gold, tin, tantalum and other critical minerals, and northern leaders have increasingly demanded that host communities receive a fair share of the benefits.

For the Tinubu administration, the ACF’s call represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The government has made local value addition a cornerstone of its mining policy, and it has said the framework agreement is designed to support that objective. Whether it can convince Nigerians — and institutions like the ACF — that this time will be different will depend on whether the agreement produces measurable results in the form of jobs, infrastructure and economic opportunity for host communities.