UNGA81: Tinubu demands continental alliance to retain Africa’s mineral wealth

President Bola Tinubu has urged African nations to intensify efforts to stop the exploitation of the continent’s critical mineral resources and ensure greater value is retained within Africa.

The president, who was represented by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, made the call during the third Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) High-level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development in Africa.

The event was held on the sidelines of the ongoing 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

President Tinubu convened and chaired the roundtable alongside AMSG Chairman and Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Dele Alake.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the roundtable was held under the theme, “From Resources to Wealth: Continental Cooperation for Mineral Value Addition, Data Sovereignty, Innovative Financing and Critical Minerals Security.”

The objective was to explore ways of converting Africa’s vast mineral resources into sustainable economic growth.

Tinubu called for unity among African countries to stop the export of raw materials and establish an aggressive alliance capable of moving the continent beyond its traditional role as a supplier of raw minerals.

He said Africa should instead develop into a hub for processing, manufacturing and value addition.

Addressing African leaders and stakeholders, the president said Africa could not continue to regard itself as wealthy when its mineral-rich communities remained in poverty while their resources generated wealth elsewhere.

“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,” he declared.

Tinubu expressed concern that communities where minerals are extracted continue to face inadequate infrastructure and job opportunities, with limited participation in the wealth generated from their resources.

He noted that Africa’s critical minerals had become increasingly important to global supply chains and economic security because of growing demand for clean energy, artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced manufacturing.

He said the response to the situation “must be processing, refining, batteries, components, African technologies and competitive skills.

“The worth of a mine must be counted in the lives it improves.

“Jobs, industries, infrastructure, technology transfer, African enterprise participation and prosperity retained across generations must measure our progress from resources to wealth.”

The Nigerian leader stressed that individual African countries could not accomplish the transformation alone.

He cautioned that a race to attract investment through lower royalties, weaker local content provisions and excessive concessions would diminish Africa’s negotiating strength.

“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,” he said.

Tinubu said Nigeria must make local value addition mandatory for new mining licences, improve geological data and investor access, organise artisanal miners into cooperatives, fight illegal mining and strengthen regulatory accountability.

He said “revenue rose from approximately six billion naira in 2023 to over N38 billion in 2024 and between N68.1 billion and N70 billion in 2025.

“Major foreign investment commitments and large-scale lithium processing capacity developed and commissioned in Nasarawa State demonstrate the possibilities.”

He pointed to his administration’s mining policy, which provides that minerals extracted in Nigeria must contribute to the development of Nigerian industries, workers, skills and communities.

The president said the reforms had shown that “firm terms can attract serious capital.”

He also called for “reliable partnerships grounded in mutual benefit, shared responsibility, sovereign equality and respect for our priorities.

“With fair market access, industrial investment and technology partnerships that build African capabilities.”

Tinubu appealed to AMSG member states to adopt a common position in pursuit of Africa’s collective interests.

He stressed that reliability should not become dependency and that partnerships must not be built on inequality.

On the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration adopted and signed at the roundtable, Tinubu said the document should provide a predictable and investment-ready environment for Africa’s Strategic Mineral Corridors.

He said its impact should go beyond the signing ceremony, calling for a binding programme with clear timelines, financing, implementation and public accountability.

He further urged African nations to define their national and regional contributions, while development finance institutions and sovereign investors should put forward financing platforms.

While declaring the roundtable open, Tinubu led the call for an aggressive alliance to ensure that Africa retains greater value from its mineral wealth.

He said, “Africa’s power resides in its people, markets and ingenuity. No outsider will organise our continent or place our industrial interests above their own.

“We must integrate our markets, mobilise African capital and negotiate with one voice wherever our interests converge.

“Our industrial growth can strengthen global prosperity, the energy transition and secure supply chains.

“Minerals confer no automatic prosperity; vision, investment and industry must earn it. Political will must turn mineral promise into enduring African wealth.”

Earlier, Alake announced that the group was proposing a Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD).

He described CIEAD as a landmark continental framework aimed at establishing a unified architecture for Africa’s critical and solid mineral value chains.

According to him, the strength of the gathering reflected the progress recorded in Africa’s solid minerals sector and the growth of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG).

Alake urged African countries yet to join the group to become members so as to promote synergy in the efforts, ideas and resources required to develop Africa’s natural resources.

He said Africa’s mineral ambitions could not be achieved through policy implementation alone, stressing the need for fully integrated partnerships across financial transactions and infrastructure development.

On his part, Kenya’s Minister of Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Mr Hassan Ali-Joho, identified domestic resource mobilisation as an important catalyst for solid mineral development in Africa and beyond.

He added that AMSG members must maintain transparency and competitiveness while working towards greater alignment of licensing procedures to achieve holistic transformation.

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