Nigeria possesses over forty commercially viable solid minerals, yet the mining sector contributes less than 1% to GDP, largely due to persistent institutional weaknesses rather than resource scarcity. The study investigates the effect of institutional capacity strengthening specifically regulatory and policy framework quality (RPFQ) and inter-agency coordination (IAC) on the economic sustainability of mineral exploitation in Nigeria’s mining sector. The main objective was to empirically examine how RPFQ and IAC influence economic sustainability, proxied primarily by the mining sector’s contribution to GDP. The study adopted a quantitative research approach with a descriptive and explanatory (correlational) design. It relied exclusively on secondary time-series data covering 2015–2024 sourced from NEITI, MCO, MMSD, NBS, CBN, NCS, and NESG reports. A census approach was used, incorporating all relevant official reports and statistics. The relationships were tested using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression analysis, with model validity assessed through standard diagnostic tests (VIF, Durbin-Watson, Breusch-Pagan, Jarque-Bera). The results revealed that both RPFQ and IAC exert positive and statistically significant effects on economic sustainability. RPFQ showed a stronger influence (β = 0.0142, p = 0.006), followed by IAC (β = 0.0098, p = 0.020), with the model explaining 68.4% of the variation in the dependent variable (R² = 0.684, F = 11.47, p = 0.008). Diagnostic tests confirmed that the classical linear regression assumptions were satisfied. The study concludes that institutional capacity deficits constitute the primary constraint on Nigeria’s mining sector performance and that systemic strengthening of regulatory quality and inter-agency coordination is essential to unlock the sector’s potential for sustainable revenue generation and economic diversification. Major recommendations include accelerating full implementation of mining law amendments, establishing a permanent legally-backed inter-agency coordination platform, increasing funding and capacity for regulatory bodies, prioritising ASM formalisation, and institutionalising real-time transparency and multi-stakeholder oversight mechanisms.
Keywords: Economic Sustainability, Nigeria, institutional capacity, inter-agency coordination, mining sector, regulatory quality
