The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development regulates the mining sector, licenses mineral exploration and exploitation, conducts geological surveys, and grows non-oil mineral resources for export and local industry.
It supervises the Mining Cadastre Office, the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, the Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences in Jos, the Solid Minerals Development Fund, the Mines Inspectorate Department, and the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Department.
Strategic priorities include formalisation of artisanal miners through cooperatives, the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation as a state-backed investment vehicle, value-addition policies that require domestic processing of strategic minerals such as lithium and rare earths, attracting private capital under a revised mining royalty regime, and a renewed crackdown on illegal mining and mineral smuggling.