Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, has urged the management and staff of the ministry to build on existing achievements by developing a new blueprint that will significantly increase the mining sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Speaking at the opening of the 2026 Ministerial Solid Minerals Retreat, themed “Accelerating Solid Minerals Sector Transformation, Delivering Our Ministerial Mandate,” Alake said the ministry’s current seven-point agenda has delivered measurable results but stressed that changing economic realities require more ambitious targets.

“We must continue to proselytise on all of those [current items] while setting new goals and new horizons to pursue the mountain of success at all times. That has to be our watchword,” Alake said.

“For all I care, if we can come up with a new seven-point agenda, I am for raising the bar and flying higher.”

The minister attributed the sector’s growing prominence in national discourse to the collective efforts of the ministry’s workforce but emphasised that sustaining progress depends on stronger institutions and greater professionalism.

“We need institutional effectiveness to make all of this happen, to translate all of this into reality,” he said.

“And institutional effectiveness just means you and I—the human element, the human factor.

“We can have a deck of plans, programmes, policies and initiatives, but if the human factor is seriously lacking in the correct values, the morals and the norms of professionalism, things will not work.”

Reflecting on leadership, Alake said criticism is often a sign of making meaningful impact.

“I’ve actually told my own people that if nobody is discussing me, or nobody is talking to me, and nobody is abusing me one way or the other, I am very sad because it will mean I have no impact. But once a leader has impact in all ramifications, people will talk,” he said.

The minister also warned mining companies that have failed to implement their Community Development Agreements (CDAs), revealing that the Federal Government is set to revoke the licences of defaulting operators.

According to him, the Permanent Secretary has already compiled a list of affected companies.

“You will soon hear our revoking of titles that fail to execute CDAs,” Alake warned.

“Someone said to me yesterday, ‘I believe you because the last time you announced you were going to revoke titles, we thought you would revoke like five or 10. You ended up revoking over 3,000.’ I said, this one will even be more. So please brace up.”

On efforts to tackle illegal mining, Alake said the establishment of the Mine Marshals has strengthened security within the sector but acknowledged that more innovative strategies are needed to eliminate illegal mining activities.

He urged participants at the retreat to develop unconventional solutions capable of addressing the industry’s security challenges.

Highlighting the ministry’s recent achievements, Alake cited the inauguration of a $250 million lithium processing plant in Nasarawa State—the largest in West Africa—alongside improved revenue generation through enhanced administrative processes, the formalisation of artisanal miners into cooperatives, and the revocation of thousands of inactive and non-compliant mining licences to sanitise the mining cadastre system.