President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on African countries to form a stronger alliance to end the export of raw minerals and promote local processing, manufacturing and value addition across the continent.
Tinubu made the call on Monday in New York at 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.
The roundtable, chaired by Tinubu, focused on continental cooperation on mineral value addition, data sovereignty, innovative financing and critical minerals security.
In an address delivered by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tinubu said Africa should ensure that its mineral resources generate jobs, industries, infrastructure and technology for its people.
“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.”
The President said mineral-rich communities continued to face inadequate infrastructure, employment opportunities and limited participation in the wealth generated from their resources.
He identified processing, refining, battery production, component manufacturing, technology transfer and skills development as key areas for Africa to increase the value derived from its mineral resources.
“The worth of a mine must be counted in the lives it improves.”
Tinubu also warned African countries against competing with one another through lower royalties, weaker local-content requirements and excessive concessions, saying such practices could weaken the continent’s collective bargaining position.
“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.”
On Nigeria’s mining sector, the President said his administration was pursuing reforms requiring greater local value addition, improving geological data and investor access, organising artisanal miners into cooperatives and tackling illegal mining.
He said revenue from the mining sector rose from approximately ₦6 billion in 2023 to more than ₦38 billion in 2024, and to between ₦68.1 billion and ₦70 billion in 2025.
Tinubu also cited foreign investment commitments and lithium processing capacity developed and commissioned in Nasarawa State as examples of what could be achieved through the reforms.
He urged African countries to develop partnerships based on mutual benefit, sovereign equality and respect for national priorities, while promoting industrial investment, technology partnerships and fair market access.
The President also backed the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration adopted at the meeting, saying it should provide a framework for strategic mineral corridors, harmonised policies, responsible investment and shared infrastructure.
He called for the declaration to be backed by clear timelines, financing arrangements, implementation mechanisms and public accountability.
Earlier, AMSG Chairman and Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said the group was proposing the declaration as a framework for developing integrated African critical and solid minerals value chains.
Alake urged African countries that had not joined the AMSG to become members, saying greater cooperation was necessary to coordinate efforts, ideas and resources.
Kenya’s Minister of Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Hassan Ali Joho, called for greater domestic resource mobilisation and alignment of licensing procedures, while stressing the need for transparency, competitiveness and respect for the sovereignty of member states.
Representatives from Liberia, Chad and Tanzania, among other stakeholders, also contributed to the discussions.
