Tinubu Calls for End to Raw Mineral Export, Pushes Africa Toward Local Processing

(President Bola Tinubu. Photo by Daily Nigerian)

President Bola Tinubu has urged African countries to unite against the exploitation of the continent's mineral resources, calling for a shift away from exporting raw materials toward local processing and industrial development.

The president made the call while receiving a delegation of the African Minerals Strategy Group at the State House in Abuja.

The group, a forum of African ministers responsible for mining and solid minerals, counts Tinubu as its Grand Patron, with Nigeria's Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, serving as its chairman.

Addressing the delegation, Tinubu said Africa must strengthen its bargaining position in the global minerals market and ensure its natural wealth translates into tangible economic benefits for the continent.

"What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation.

The rest of the world won't mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value," he said.

He called on African nations to invest in research, refining and technology, stressing that the continent's mineral wealth should drive industrialisation, create jobs and improve living standards.

"It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it," he said.

Alake, responding on behalf of the delegation, said the group had taken Tinubu's earlier charge to heart, with local value addition now a central objective across member countries.

He noted that some nations have already banned the export of raw minerals to encourage domestic processing.

The minister said AMSG members are in Abuja for the fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit, themed "One Africa, One Resource Vision," which is expected to focus on beneficiation, industrialisation and stronger continental cooperation in managing mineral resources.