President Bola Tinubu has called on African nations to halt the exploitation of their mineral resources and stop exporting wealth in its raw form.
Speaking to the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) in Abuja on Tuesday, Tinubu warned that the global community will remain indifferent to Africa’s underdevelopment as long as the continent fails to demand fair value for its raw materials.
As the Grand Patron of the AMSG, Tinubu urged nations to unite, strengthen their bargaining power, and end a predatory cycle where local resources enrich foreign industries while leaving African communities impoverished.
In a statement released by his media adviser, Bayo Onanuga, the President emphasized that Africa must cut through bureaucracy and deceit to finally secure the full benefits of its mineral wealth.
He said: “The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it.”
The President stressed that the continent’s abundant mineral deposits should serve as a catalyst for industrialisation, job creation and economic transformation rather than a source of unprocessed exports.
He urged African governments to invest more in research, development and refining capacity, stressing that such investments would help build a knowledge-based economy capable of improving living standards across the continent.
“It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent.
“So, why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people,” Tinubu stressed.
President Tinubu further maintained that the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must end, calling instead for policies that encourage domestic industries, technology transfer and value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
The Chairman of AMSG and Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, commended the President for providing leadership that has shaped a new direction for Africa’s mineral sector.
Alake said Tinubu had consistently championed local value addition and beneficiation as the foundation of the group’s objectives.
He said: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have implemented your charge, and we are convinced that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”