Tinubu Rallies Africa To Stop Exporting Its Mineral Wealth And Start Owning It

President Bola Ahmed 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 without local processing.

The Nigerian leader made the call in New York during the AMSG High Level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development in Africa, held on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly and chaired by Tinubu alongside Vice President Kashim Shettima and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake.

In his address, delivered by Shettima, the President told African leaders that the continent cannot claim to be wealthy while its children wallow in poverty amid mines that enrich the world, insisting that Africa’s duty is to ensure the future being fashioned from its minerals has room for African ambition.

He regretted that mineral rich communities lack infrastructure and jobs at a time when global demand for clean energy and advanced manufacturing has made Africa’s cobalt, copper, lithium and rare earth elements indispensable to global supply chains.

Tinubu warned that no African country can achieve transformation alone, insisting that fragmentation leaves the continent exporting raw materials and buying finished goods at a premium, while cooperation would give African markets scale and negotiating authority.

Back home, the President said Nigeria must require local value addition for new mining licenses, disclosing that mining revenue rose from about N6 billion in 2023 to between N68.1 billion and N70 billion in 2025, alongside major foreign investment commitments in Nasarawa State.

He called for reliable partnerships grounded in mutual benefit and sovereign equality, urging AMSG member countries to speak with one voice to promote Africa’s collective interest in mineral negotiations.

On the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration adopted at the Roundtable, the President said its authority must survive the signing ceremony through a binding programme with timelines, financing and public accountability.

AMSG Chairman, Dele Alake, described the Declaration as a landmark framework for Africa’s mineral value chains, urging countries yet to join the group to do so, while Kenya’s Minister of Blue Economy, Hassan Ali Joho, stressed the importance of domestic resource mobilisation for the continent’s mineral ambitions.

By Asiwaju Adekunle Saheed