The global demand for lithium has extended to Nigeria, where a market for illicitly mined lithium minerals is thriving in the international border areas of Oyo State, helped by poor government regulation and monitoring
Lithium is always available for sale in Abuja Leather, a community in Itesiwaju Local Government Area of Oyo State near the border with Benin Republic. The mineral is illegally sourced from the nearby Danbasamiya mine and transported in large sacks to Abuja Leather, where it is sold daily like a staple food.
Many shops and warehouses in the community were built for this business. Their owners had relocated from distant parts of Nigeria to trade lithium in the town. However, neither the traders nor the artisanal miners are licensed to mine or trade in the transition mineral.
As the transition from carbon-spewing petroleum-powered cars to electric vehicles accelerates, the demand for lithium is also rising. The International Energy Agency estimates that lithium production must increase 40-fold by 2040 to reduce carbon emissions enough to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
This demand for lithium has extended to Nigeria, where a market for illicitly mined lithium minerals is thriving in the international border areas of Oyo State, helped by poor government regulation and monitoring.
Business is smooth in Abuja Leather because the state government overlooks the activities of the traders, content with receiving peanuts as royalties. Security officials, too concerned with personal gains, do the same, while the federal government is completely blindsided.
To many, the silence of the state government certifies that the market activities are legal and approved by the rightful authorities. It is with this belief that Abdulrahman Abubakar has worked in the market undisturbed for years.
When he arrived about 15 years ago, he joined as a labourer working for one of the artisanal mining companies. But he earned well and quickly saved enough money to switch from the site to the market.
Buyers visit the community with large trucks each week. They move from one shop to the next, buying bags of lithium-containing stones until the trucks are fully loaded. The trucks are often transported to Lagos and Ogun states to the original buyers, mainly Chinese, truck drivers said. This does not take too long because there are always minerals for sale.
Increased demand
Although access to Abuja Leather requires a 50-minute ride through a narrow forest path, no wider than a few footsteps punctuated by hollows and steep hills, Mr Abubakar called it a constant hub for buyers.
Through a series of interviews with traders, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that each week, at least three large trucks must wriggle their way out of the community through this path carrying 600 bags of a specific stone, often Kunzite.
According to the traders, sales have increased in the last five years.
"We see more trucks, more people wanting to buy, and even more people interested in joining the trade," Mr Abubakar said.
Another trader, Yusuf Awujoola, who works in a shop a few steps from Mr Abubakar, corroborated his statement.
"More trucks are coming here. In a good week, often during the dry season when the road is in good condition, we see about seven or eight trucks looking to buy stones," he said.
The Nigerian government claimed in 2022 that "commercial lithium material" had just been discovered in the country. However, when PREMIUM TIMES visited the Oyo border community in August, villagers said the sale had been ongoing for about two decades.
The state government and security agencies knew of their activities and allowed them to work uninterrupted, they said.
Abuja Leather, Mr Awujoola said, is known for commercial lithium materials. Sometimes, he said, buyers spend days in the community market, going from shop to shop and haggling. Other times, a buyer would simply contact the market and place an order for a truck of goods.
"It would be sourced and sent directly to his preferred location, like home delivery," Mr Yusuf stated.
The cost of lithium in Abuja Leather
On average, three big trucks and four smaller ones drive out of the community loaded with stones in a week.
Each large truck carries 600 bags of lithium, which makes up 30 tonnes. Kunzite, the mineral containing six per cent of lithium, has the highest lithium content in the village. Each tonne costs N800,000, and a truck of 30 tonnes is worth N40 million. The state government receives a paltry royalty fee of N50,000 for each truck.
"It's the same thing in Agate," Mr Awujoola added.
Agate is a nearby community where the lithium trade is also predominant. It is a smaller community market for the mineral, which has a peculiar form of partnership with Abuja Leather that allows the traders and miners to work together.
When customers cannot get enough in one village, they are directed to the next village.
According to many villagers, buyers who visit Abuja Leather are very likely to visit Agate.
Each week, at least three big trucks of lithium are sold in the communities and by this, an estimated 12 big trucks monthly.
This newspaper estimates that the government receives about N600,000 in royalties for lithium from these communities each month and N7.2 million in a year.
On 11 October, PREMIUM TIMES sent an FOI request to three Oyo State government agencies: the Ministry of Information, the Solid Mineral Development Agency, and the Office of the State Accountant General. The request demanded information on revenue generated from lithium mining in the last five years but didn't get a response. None of them responded.
PREMIUM TIMES also sought to ask the Oyo State Government why it allows and taxes illegal lithium trade in Abuja Leather and Agate.
The Director-General of the Oyo State Mineral Development Agency, Abiodun Oni, told our reporter over the phone that he was "not available to respond."
Our reporter also contacted the State Accountant General, Kikelomo Adegoke, over the phone multiple times, but she declined to speak without an official letter. However, after the FOI was submitted, she claimed to be "busy with the 2025 budget."
No permit to trade, but the state govt allows it
The traders in Abuja Leather and Agate do not have a licence to buy or store minerals as they do.
Although Nigeria officially operates a federal system, the central government has overwhelming powers over states and local governments in many matters, including minerals.
The Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act requires that no one without a mineral title or permit from the federal government should have or purchase minerals for any purpose.
It also mandates that minerals recovered under small-scale mining leases be sold only to licenced procurement centres for which valid sales receipts must be obtained and provided upon request.
However, the Abuja Leather and Agate traders do not see the need for a permit and are quick to point out that they work without external interference.
"The government knows about this place. The governor has been here before. They are aware," Mr Awujoola reiterated many times.
Some customers also spoke of the communities' relationship with security officials deployed to the neighbourhood. There's an unofficial agreement between the communities and these officials for buyers to pay a certain fee at each checkpoint.
At least five checkpoints are located from Abuja Leather to the highway leading to Ibadan. They are manned by officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the National Immigration Service (NIS), and the police.
PREMIUM TIMES found that truck drivers pay between N1,000 and N3,000 at each point before they are allowed to pass.
Julius Kehinde, a truck driver who frequents the communities, said, "As long as you are driving a truck, even if it is empty, they expect you to pay money. It is an unwritten rule. As soon as they see a truck, they assume one has gone to buy lithium and believe they are entitled to benefit from the trade."
No lease to mine
The artisanal mining companies and workers who sell minerals to the traders do not have a licence to mine in the area. PREMIUM TIMES identified six mining companies from multiple interviews with traders and buyers in both communities.
They are Mortuary Mining Company Limited, Amoh Mining Company Limited, AAY International Mining Company Limited, Lafia Mining Company Limited, Topmost Minerals, and Allied Resource Limited.
When we looked through the Mining Cadastre's online portal for the six companies and their mineral titles, our reporter found some irregularities.
First, the mining regulator's website did not list two companies, Mortuary Mining Company Limited and Amoh Mining Company Limited.
Topmost Minerals and Allied Resource Limited, listed on the site, had an expired licence. Its mining licence, according to the information provided, expired in 2019.
Only two companies have an active licence: Lafia Mining Limited and AYY International International Mining Limited.
However, their mining title details show that their small-scale mining lease covers Atisbo Local Government Area and not Itesiwaju, where the mining site is located.
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To get further clarification, our reporter wrote to the Mining Cadastre multiple times but did not get a response. The reporter also contacted the director of the Mines Inspectorate (MI), Imam Ganiyu, over the phone, but he declined to comment.
Again, Nigeria's missing out
According to geoscientists and experts in the energy and development sector, illegal mining is a significant threat to Nigeria's ability to tap into the global lithium market.
Nigeria is keen to enter the global lithium market, so the government tightened regulations on mining and exporting raw lithium materials.
However, the illicit mining and trade of the minerals persist.
According to Gbenga Okunlola, a professor of economic geology at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria risks missing another opportunity to become an exporter of high-demand resources and attract investors.
"We missed out on Tantalite and some other rare minerals, and we are about to do the same with lithium minerals because of government failure to adequately harmonise the extractive sector," he said.
Also, Tobi Oluwatola, an Energy and Development analyst, said Nigeria has only been paying lip service to join the global lithium industry.
He said the government's pronounced interest in the lithium market differs from reality.
Segun Tomori, the media aide to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, acknowledged irregularities in the mining and trade of solid minerals.
He said the issue of unlicensed miners working freely and the state government getting royalties for illicitly sourced goods were due to "the mismanagement of the previous administration."
He argued that it is an age-long challenge that the current government is seeking to address.
"The minister is working on this. But it is going to be a gradual process," he said.
However, Mr Okunlola maintains that the national authorities must do more to address the underlying issues in the mining sector before the sector can profit from the global lithium trade.
He suggested proper monitoring and a funding structure for mining and trading lithium minerals.
The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) sponsored this story through its Just Energy Transition Minerals Challenge Project.
