Tinubu To Africa: Stop Shipping Raw Minerals, Build Wealth At Home

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has challenged African countries to end the export of raw mineral resources and forge a united continental strategy that will keep more of the wealth generated from Africa’s vast mineral deposits on the continent.

Tinubu said Africa’s critical minerals must no longer enrich industries and economies elsewhere while communities where the resources are extracted remain without adequate jobs, infrastructure and economic opportunities.

The President made the call on Monday in New York, United States, while addressing 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.

Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tinubu said Africa needed to move urgently from the extraction of raw minerals to processing, refining, manufacturing and the development of technologies and skills around its mineral resources.

“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 said.

The roundtable, chaired by Tinubu, brought together African leaders, ministers, development finance institutions and other stakeholders to discuss how the continent could transform its mineral endowment into sustainable economic growth.

The meeting was themed, “From Resources to Wealth: Continental Cooperation for Mineral Value Addition, Data Sovereignty, Innovative Financing and Critical Minerals Security.”

Tinubu said the growing global demand for clean energy, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing had placed African minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium and rare earth elements at the centre of global supply chains.

He, however, said the continent must ensure that rising demand translates into jobs, industries and technology for Africans rather than simply increasing exports of unprocessed resources.

“The answer to such deprivation must be processing, refining, batteries, components, African technologies and competitive skills,” the President said.

He added that the success of Africa’s mining sector should be measured by the impact of mineral wealth on people and communities.

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

Tinubu also warned against African countries competing against one another by offering lower royalties, weaker local-content requirements and excessive concessions to investors.

According to him, such fragmentation reduces Africa’s bargaining power and leaves individual countries vulnerable to a system in which they export raw materials and subsequently import finished products at higher prices.

“Fragmentation leaves us exporting raw materials and buying finished goods at a premium. Cooperation gives our markets scale, our industries integration, our financing reach and our negotiations authority,” he said.

The President urged African countries to coordinate policies, infrastructure, financing and investment around strategic mineral corridors while strengthening their negotiating position in the global market.

He said Nigeria was already pursuing reforms aimed at ensuring that mineral extraction contributes more directly to domestic industrial development.

Among the measures, he listed requirements for local value addition in new mining licences, improved geological data and investor access, the organisation of artisanal miners into cooperatives, stronger action against illegal mining and improved regulatory accountability.

Tinubu said government revenue from the mining sector had risen from about ₦6 billion in 2023 to more than ₦38 billion in 2024 and between ₦68.1 billion and ₦70 billion in 2025.

He also cited foreign investment commitments and the development and commissioning of large-scale lithium processing capacity in Nasarawa State as indications of the opportunities available in Nigeria’s mineral sector.

The President said Nigeria’s experience could provide lessons for other African countries but stressed that each country should adapt policies to its own circumstances.

He called for partnerships based on “mutual benefit, shared responsibility, sovereign equality and respect for our priorities,” alongside fair market access, industrial investment and technology partnerships capable of strengthening African capabilities.

The President also called on AMSG members to speak with one voice where their interests converge.

“Reliability must never mean dependency, and partnership must never demand inequality,” he said.

A key outcome of the meeting was the adoption and signing of the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD), which seeks to create a predictable investment environment for Africa’s Strategic Mineral Corridors.

The framework provides for greater policy harmonisation, responsible investment and shared infrastructure to support mineral value chains across the continent.

Tinubu said the declaration must not remain a ceremonial document, insisting that it should be backed by clear timelines, financing arrangements, implementation mechanisms and public accountability.

He also urged African countries to define their national and regional contributions while calling on development finance institutions and sovereign investors to develop financing platforms for the continent’s mineral development.

Earlier, AMSG Chairman and Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said the proposed CIEAD would provide a unified framework for Africa’s critical and solid minerals value chains.

Alake urged countries that had yet to join the AMSG to do so, stressing that greater cooperation was needed to pool Africa’s resources, expertise and ideas.

He said policy reforms alone would not deliver the continent’s mineral ambitions without integrated partnerships covering financing, infrastructure and other critical areas.

Kenya’s Minister of Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Hassan Ali Joho, stressed the need for greater domestic resource mobilisation to accelerate mineral development.

Joho also called for transparency, competitiveness and greater alignment of licensing procedures among AMSG members while respecting the sovereignty of individual countries.

Representatives from Liberia, Chad and Tanzania, among other stakeholders, also participated in the discussions.