Africa Urged to End Raw Material Exports and Embrace Value Addition

Africa's continued reliance on exporting raw materials is hindering the continent's ability to create industries, jobs, and wealth from its abundant natural resources. The Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Marksons Oboth, made the call while opening the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Africa Region Capacity Development Seminar in Entebbe on Wednesday. The seminar, running from November 9 to 13, 2026, aims to equip legislators with the skills to secure Africa's resource wealth for sustainable development. Oboth emphasized that exporting raw materials does not solve Africa's development challenges.

Oboth challenged legislators to use their legislative, budgetary, and oversight powers to strengthen accountability in natural resource management. He urged them to scrutinize extraction contracts and enforce local content laws to close loopholes that facilitate illicit financial flows. The Speaker emphasized that the greatest economic benefits from natural resources are realized when they are transformed into finished products that support industries, create jobs, and generate greater market value. Using coffee and crude oil as examples, Oboth said Africa must look beyond cultivation and extraction to processing, packaging, and marketing.

The seminar has brought together legislators from South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and Uganda. Oboth commended President Yoweri Museveni for championing Uganda's value addition agenda, citing government initiatives to promote local processing of coffee, maize, sugar, and tea. He also pointed to restrictions on the export of unprocessed minerals and efforts to protect local content in the oil and gas sector. However, he cautioned that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would only achieve its full potential if member states prioritized value addition and reduced their dependence on exporting unprocessed commodities.

The Chairperson of the CPA Uganda Branch, Naome Kabasharira, said the seminar comes at a time when natural resources are increasingly shaping economic transformation across the continent. She cautioned that the availability of natural resources does not automatically translate into economic development or improved livelihoods. Kabasharira outlined the key areas of focus for the seminar, including parliamentary oversight of extraction contracts and licensing, local content laws, value addition and beneficiation, as well as measures to curb illicit financial flows and aggressive tax avoidance.

Kabasharira described illicit financial flows and aggressive tax avoidance as major threats to Africa's development, noting that weak governance, opaque transactions, and profit shifting deprive governments of revenue needed to finance healthcare, education, infrastructure, and other social services. The seminar aims to equip legislators with the skills to address these challenges and ensure that communities benefit from the exploitation of natural resources. Oboth emphasized the need to involve communities in decisions affecting their livelihoods, ensuring they benefit from resource extraction in their areas while being protected from displacement and environmental degradation.

The CPA Africa Region Capacity Development Seminar is being held under the theme, "From Extraction to Transformation: Parliamentary Leadership in Securing Africa's Resource Wealth for Sustainable Development." The seminar aims to promote parliamentary leadership in securing Africa's resource wealth for sustainable development. Oboth urged legislators to take the lead in making sure Africa's raw materials benefit its own people, not only the rich countries.

The seminar's outcomes are expected to contribute to the development of effective legislation and policies that promote value addition and sustainable development in Africa. Legislators from across the continent are expected to share experiences and best practices in promoting local processing, enforcing local content requirements, and ensuring that communities benefit from natural resource extraction. The event is expected to conclude on November 13, 2026.

Key points

• Africa's dependence on exporting raw materials hinders its ability to create industries, jobs, and wealth from its natural resources.
• Legislators are urged to strengthen laws promoting local processing, enforce local content requirements, and ensure communities benefit from natural resource extraction.
• The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will only achieve its full potential if member states prioritize value addition and reduce their dependence on exporting unprocessed commodities.