POLITICAL Economy

Tinubu Urges Africa to End Export of Raw Minerals

by admin on | 2026-09-22 11:20:09

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By Maryam Muhammad

President Bola Tinubu has called for a fresh continental push to end the historical exploitation of Africa's critical mineral resources, urging African nations to unite and halt the export of raw materials.

Accordingly, he is demanding an aggressive alliance among African countries to ensure the continent transitions from a mere supplier of raw minerals to a hub for local processing, manufacturing, and value addition.

The Nigerian leader made the call in New York, United States, during the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) High-Level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development in Africa held on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The President was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, alongside AMSG Chairman and Nigeria's Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Dele Alake,

The high-level dialogue, themed, “From Resources to Wealth: Continental Cooperation for Mineral Value Addition, Data Sovereignty, Innovative Financing and Critical Minerals Security,” focuses on transforming the continent's mineral wealth into sustainable economic growth.

The President told African leaders and other stakeholders that the continent cannot claim to be wealthy while its children wallow in poverty amid mines that enrich the world.

"For generations, Africa has furnished the materials of prosperity elsewhere. Our duty is to ensure that the future being fashioned from African minerals has room for African ambition," he declared.

President Tinubu regretted that mineral-rich communities lack infrastructure, jobs, and a stake in their own wealth at a time when global demand for clean energy, AI, and advanced manufacturing has made Africa's critical minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium, and rare earth elements indispensable to global supply chains and economic security.

The answer to such deprivation, he observed, "must be processing, refining, batteries, components, African technologies and competitive skills," noting that "the worth of a mine must be counted in the lives it improves.

"Jobs, industries, infrastructure, technology transfer, African enterprise participation and prosperity retained across generations must measure our progress from resources to wealth," he maintained.

The Nigerian leader warned, however, that no African country can achieve this alone, adding that competing through lower royalties, weaker local content, and excessive concessions will only weaken the continent's negotiating power.

He however noted that Nigeria must require local value addition for new mining licenses, strengthen geological data and investor access, organise artisanal miners into cooperatives, combat illegal mining, and improve regulatory accountability.

Offering other African nations the Nigerian experience for adaptation across the continent, President Tinubu called for "reliable partnerships grounded in mutual benefit, shared responsibility, sovereign equality and respect for our priorities, with fair market access, industrial investment and technology partnerships that build African capabilities."

On the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration adopted and signed at the Roundtable, the President said it must establish a predictable, investment-ready environment for Africa’s Strategic Mineral Corridors, harmonised policies, responsible investment and shared infrastructure.

He stated that the Declaration's authority must survive the signing ceremony through a binding programme with timelines, financing, implementation and public accountability, even as he urged African nations to specify national and regional contributions; development finance institutions and sovereign investors to propose financing platforms.

Chairman of the AMSG and Nigeria's Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr Dele Alake, said the group is proposing a Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD) as a landmark continental framework designed to establish a unified architecture for Africa's critical and solid minerals value chains.

He said the strength of the gathering reflected the journey and progress made in Africa's solid minerals sector as manifested in the growth of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG).

Alake urged African countries that have yet to join the group to do so in the bid to ensure synergy of efforts, ideas and resources needed for Africa's natural resources.

Kenya's Minister of Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Mr Hassan Ali Joho, underscored the importance of domestic resource mobilisation as a catalyst for solid mineral development in Africa and beyond.

He added that for members of the AMSG to achieve holistic transformation, members must stay transparent, competitive and work towards greater alignment of licensing procedures while respecting the sovereignty of member states of the group.

There were also contributions from representatives of the governments of Liberia, Chad and Tanzania, among other stakeholders.