Tinubu Calls on Africa to Stop Exporting Raw Minerals.

President Bola Tinubu has called on African countries to end the export of raw mineral resources and focus on local processing, manufacturing and value addition.

Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, made the call on Monday at the third 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 in New York.

The meeting, convened and chaired by Tinubu alongside AMSG Chairman and Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, focused on transforming Africa’s mineral wealth into sustainable economic growth.

The President urged African nations to work together to move the continent from being a supplier of raw minerals to becoming a major hub for mineral processing, manufacturing and technological development.

He said Africa could not continue to export valuable resources while mineral-rich communities remained without adequate infrastructure, employment opportunities and meaningful benefits from the resources extracted from their areas.

“ 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,” Tinubu said.

He noted that growing global demand for clean energy, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing had made Africa’s critical minerals increasingly important to global supply chains.

According to him, Africa’s response should include mineral processing, refining, battery production, manufacturing of components, technology development and the acquisition of competitive skills.

Tinubu also called for greater cooperation among African countries, warning that individual countries would have limited bargaining power if they competed against one another through lower royalties, weaker local-content requirements and excessive concessions.

He said cooperation would provide African markets with greater scale, strengthen industrial integration, expand financing opportunities and improve the continent’s negotiating position.

The President also highlighted Nigeria’s mining reforms, including requirements for local value addition in new mining licences, improved geological data, greater investor access, the organisation of artisanal miners into cooperatives, stronger action against illegal mining and improved regulatory accountability.

He said revenue from the mining sector increased from about N6 billion in 2023 to more than N38 billion in 2024, and further rose to between N68.1 billion and N70 billion in 2025.

Tinubu also cited foreign investment commitments and the development of large-scale lithium processing capacity in Nasarawa State as examples of the opportunities available in Nigeria’s mining sector.

He urged AMSG member countries to speak with one voice in promoting Africa’s collective interests and called for partnerships based on mutual benefit, shared responsibility, sovereign equality and respect for African priorities.

Earlier, Alake announced a proposed Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration, describing it as a framework for establishing a unified system for Africa’s critical and solid mineral value chains.

Kenya’s Minister of Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Hassan Ali-Joho, also stressed the importance of domestic resource mobilisation, transparency, competitiveness and greater alignment of mineral licensing procedures across African countries.

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