Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has cautioned the Federal Government to approach its pursuit of industrial-scale lithium mining with a deep sense of environmental accountability and protection of local livelihoods.
The advice comes in the wake of government’s commissioning of its first lithium processing plant in Nassarawa State.
During a recent meeting with Chinese investors who built the plant, President Bola Tinubu was quoted as commending their efforts and investments including urging them to take advantage of the country’s huge market and cheap labour .
The Nassarawa lithium plant constructed by the Chinese firm, Avatar Energy Materials Company Limited, boasts a production capacity of 4,000 metric tonnes daily. Another Chinese firm, Canmax Technologies, has pledged to invest over $200m in constructing another lithium processing plant in the state.
While acknowledging the potential of lithium to drive Nigeria’s economic growth and position it at the forefront of the global race for green energy transition and production of cleaner technologies such as electric cars and inverters, among others, CAPPA cited concerns regarding the lack of state oversight in mining activities across various parts of the country and its impact on the environment and local communities.
Media and Communications Officer of CAPPA, Robert Egbe, stated: “Lithium extraction activities often result in environmental troubles, mainly as mining companies have been known to appropriate local workers for its processing and even engage in the indiscriminate disposal of waste in open waters and lands utilised by locals.
“In many instances, communities have been violently displaced to facilitate mining operations, mostly driven by foreign interests, not to mention the depressing ecological damage associated with these sorts of activities, especially in our country, where environmental regulations are poorly enforced, and demand for corporate accountability is lacking as with the experience of reckless oil extractivism in the country’s Niger Delta region.”
According to him, the Federal Government and state authorities already cut a picture of negligence and complicity when the many unofficial mining activities across the country are interrogated.
