It was in the news yesterday that Chinese nationals are burrowing  Nigeria’s mines, grabbing whatever deposits of Lithium day could find to sneak back home to fuel their industries. Given that the metal is pricey in the international market and that it is a valuable ingredient in the production of batteries that run the next generation of electric products including electric cars, government must stop the Chinese before it is too late.

Miners under the umbrella of the Miners Association of Nigeria had sent a passionate plea to government to check the activities of Chinese miners “scavenging” for Lithium, saying that their activities will threaten the economy down the line.

• “Chinese are moving from one mining site to the other, scavenging and mopping our raw lithium mineral at a cheap rate to develop their industries and economy.
• “This is not good for the future of our economy; what this means is that Nigeria will end up buying electric batteries from them.
• ”Allowing the Chinese to enter into every mining site is one of the reasons kidnapping is on the increase in Nigeria because they are the major target for kidnappers.”

They ended their plea by asking the government to:

• Revoke the 100% mining licence granted the Chinese.
• Allowing the Chinese have 100% mining assets is not good enough for the indigenous mining investors.
• Safeguard our lithium and revive all the moribund companies producing batteries in Nigeria to start using the lithium to produce electric batteries.