President Tinubu urges African nations to control critical minerals and reform the global financial system, calling for unity, exploration, and value addition
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on African nations to take unified ownership of their mineral resources and lead a shift in the global financial structure that has historically disadvantaged the continent.
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Delivering his message through Vice-President Kashim Shettima at the Second Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) High-Level Roundtable in New York, Tinubu urged leaders to finance their own mineral sectors and halt the export of raw materials.
The roundtable, held on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, focused on Africa’s strategic positioning in the global critical minerals value chain, including lithium, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements.
Tinubu declared that Africa must stop waiting for external capital and instead utilise tools such as sovereign wealth funds, blended finance vehicles, and innovative mechanisms like the Africa Mineral Token to unlock value from within.
“Never again shall we wait for capital to trickle in… Africa must guard its resources not as fragmented states but as a united bloc,” he said.
Tinubu highlighted four imperatives for achieving mineral sovereignty and economic transformation:
Stop exporting raw materials and instead develop beneficiation and green manufacturing industries within Africa.
With tools like AMREC and PARC, he said African nations must standardise and take ownership of mineral data, ending dependence on foreign mapping.
Without exploration, “there is no sovereignty,” Tinubu warned. He called for country-wide geological surveysand stronger national mapping agencies.
African countries must proactively fund their development through local capital, resisting dependency on foreign financiers.
Tinubu praised nations already taking bold steps, including:
- Zimbabwe – for its 2022 ban on raw lithium exports
- Gabon – for its decision to end manganese exports by 2029
- Kenya – for plans to restrict raw gold exports
- Nigeria – currently fast-tracking similar reforms under its Renewed Hope Agenda
He pledged Nigeria’s full commitment as Chair of the AMSG Roundtable to catalyse a “mineral-led renaissance” across the continent.
“Let us rise with a communiqué of clarity, a framework for action, and a spirit of unity,” Tinubu concluded.
Dr Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, chaired the session and urged transparency, cohesion, and partnership across the continent.
Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Assistant Secretary-General, warned that Africa must avoid becoming a “resource victim”, urging focus on job creation, technology transfer, and local beneficiation.
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Jozef Stkela, EU Commissioner for International Partnership, cited the bloc’s Critical Raw Materials Act, noting 14 global value chain partnerships, including four in Africa.
