President Bola Tinubu has urged African countries to move beyond exporting raw minerals and develop local processing, manufacturing, and value chains to retain wealth from their natural resources. Speaking 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 in New York, Tinubu emphasized the need for the continent to transform its mineral endowment into sustainable economic growth. He was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the event.
Tinubu noted that Africa could no longer afford to remain a supplier of raw materials to global industries while mineral-rich communities across the continent continued to lack jobs, infrastructure, and meaningful economic benefits. He stressed that fragmentation leaves Africa exporting raw materials and buying finished goods at a premium, while cooperation gives markets scale, industries integration, financing reach, and negotiations authority. The President urged African countries to form an aggressive alliance to ensure that the continent moves beyond mineral extraction to processing, refining, battery production, component manufacturing, and technology development.
According to Tinubu, the growing global demand for critical minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium, and rare earth elements presents an opportunity for Africa to transform its mineral endowment into sustainable economic growth. However, he insisted that the value of Africa's minerals should be measured by their impact on the lives of Africans. Tinubu emphasized that jobs, industries, infrastructure, technology transfer, African enterprise participation, and prosperity retained across generations must measure progress from resources to wealth.
Tinubu cautioned African countries against competing with one another for investment by offering lower royalties, weaker local-content requirements, and excessive concessions, saying such fragmentation would undermine the continent's negotiating position. He stressed that no African country could achieve the desired transformation alone and called for coordinated policies, integrated markets, shared infrastructure, and stronger financing mechanisms. The President also outlined measures being pursued in Nigeria to increase the domestic benefits of mining.
In Nigeria, reforms have contributed to increased mining revenue, which rose from approximately ₦6 billion in 2023 to more than ₦38 billion in 2024 and between ₦68.1 billion and ₦70 billion in 2025. Tinubu cited major foreign investment commitments and the development and commissioning of large-scale lithium processing capacity in Nasarawa State as evidence of the opportunities available under the new policy direction. He said Nigeria's mining policy was designed to ensure that minerals extracted in the country support Nigerian industries, workers, skills, and host communities.
Tinubu called for partnerships with external investors to be based on mutual benefit, sovereign equality, fair market access, industrial investment, and technology partnerships capable of building African capacity. He urged members of the AMSG to speak with one voice in advancing Africa's collective interests, declaring that the continent's mineral wealth must become a foundation for industrialization rather than continued dependence. The President also proposed the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD) to establish a predictable and investment-ready framework for Africa's strategic mineral corridors.
The proposed CIEAD, adopted at the roundtable, aims to establish a unified continental architecture for Africa's critical and solid minerals value chains. AMSG Chairman and Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, urged African countries yet to join the AMSG to do so, stressing the need for greater coordination of efforts, ideas, and resources to maximize the continent's natural resources. Other stakeholders, including Kenya's Minister of Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Hassan Ali Joho, and representatives of Liberia, Chad, and Tanzania, contributed to the discussions.
Key points
- President Bola Tinubu calls for African countries to develop local processing, manufacturing, and value chains to retain wealth from natural resources.
- Nigeria's mining revenue rose from ₦6 billion in 2023 to between ₦68.1 billion and ₦70 billion in 2025 due to reforms.
- The proposed Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration aims to establish a unified continental architecture for Africa's critical and solid minerals value chains.
