At UNGA 81, Nigeria pushes for continental cooperation, local processing and integrated mineral value chains as Africa seeks greater control over the economic value of its resources
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called for a renewed continental effort to end Africa’s dependence on the export of raw minerals, arguing that the continent must move from supplying mineral resources to building the processing, manufacturing and technology industries around them.
Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the third Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) High-Level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development in Africa in New York, Tinubu called for greater cooperation among African countries to retain more mineral value within the continent.
The roundtable, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, was convened under the theme “From Resources to Wealth: Continental Cooperation for Mineral Value Addition, Data Sovereignty, Innovative Financing and Critical Minerals Security.”
The intervention comes as global demand for minerals such as lithium, copper, cobalt and rare earth elements accelerates alongside investment in clean energy, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.
For Africa, the central question is increasingly shifting from how much mineral wealth the continent possesses to how much of the value generated across the resulting supply chains can be captured within African economies.
From Mineral Endowment to Industrial Capacity
Tinubu argued that Africa cannot achieve broad-based prosperity simply by increasing mineral extraction. Instead, he called for the development of processing and industrial capabilities capable of transforming raw resources into higher-value products.
The Nigerian President identified processing, refining, batteries, components, African technologies and competitive skills as part of the infrastructure required to move from resource extraction to value creation.
The underlying economic proposition is significant.
Mining generates value at the point of extraction, but much of the larger economic opportunity can sit further along the chain; in mineral processing, refining, intermediate products, manufacturing, technology, logistics, engineering services and specialised skills.
The challenge for African economies is therefore not simply to increase production. It is to build the industrial ecosystems capable of absorbing that production. Tinubu said the contribution of a mine should be measured by the jobs, industries, infrastructure, technology transfer and participation of African enterprises that it creates, rather than extraction volumes alone.
A Continental Strategy, Rather Than Isolated National Policies
A central element of the Nigerian position is that individual African countries may have limited leverage when negotiating separately with global mining companies, investors and mineral-consuming economies.
Tinubu warned that competition among African countries through lower royalties, weaker local-content requirements and excessive concessions could reduce the continent’s collective bargaining position. His argument is that greater coordination could allow African markets and mineral-producing economies to operate at a more meaningful scale.
“Fragmentation,” he argued, leaves Africa exporting raw materials while importing finished products at higher prices, whereas cooperation could provide greater market scale, industrial integration, financing reach and negotiating authority.
This places regional integration at the centre of the critical-minerals discussion. Mineral deposits are geographically dispersed. Processing facilities, energy infrastructure, transport corridors and industrial consumers do not necessarily need to be located within the same country.
A continental strategy could therefore connect mineral-producing countries with processing centres, ports, power systems, industrial zones and consumer markets across borders.
The CIEAD and Strategic Mineral Corridors
The roundtable also produced the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD), proposed by AMSG as a framework for a more unified approach to Africa’s critical and solid-mineral value chains.
Tinubu said the declaration should go beyond a political commitment and establish a predictable, investment-ready environment for Africa’s Strategic Mineral Corridors, supported by harmonised policies, responsible investment and shared infrastructure.
He also called for countries to define national and regional contributions and urged development-finance institutions and sovereign investors to develop financing platforms capable of supporting the continental strategy.
That financing component is critical. Building refineries, processing plants, industrial parks, transport corridors and reliable power systems requires substantially more capital than extracting and exporting ore.
A value-addition strategy therefore depends not only on mineral policy but also on the ability to mobilise long-term infrastructure and industrial finance.
Nigeria’s Mining Policy Direction
Tinubu also pointed to Nigeria’s domestic mining reforms as part of the country’s effort to increase local economic participation in the sector.
According to the President, Nigeria is seeking to require local value addition for new mining licences, improve geological data and investor access, organise artisanal miners into cooperatives, combat illegal mining and strengthen regulatory accountability.
He cited an increase in mining-sector revenue from approximately ₦6 billion in 2023 to more than ₦38 billion in 2024, and to between ₦68.1 billion and ₦70 billion in 2025, while also pointing to foreign investment commitments and lithium-processing capacity in Nasarawa State.
The broader policy direction is to position minerals extracted in Nigeria as inputs into Nigerian industries, workers, skills and communities rather than treating extraction and export as the end of the value chain.
For investors, that creates an important policy signal: future mineral development in Nigeria is increasingly being framed around value addition and domestic economic participation, not extraction alone.
The Investment Equation
The transition from raw-material exports to local processing creates opportunities, but it also changes the investment requirements. Processing facilities require reliable electricity, water, transport infrastructure, skilled labour, technology, environmental management and access to finance.
Some mineral-processing projects may also require economies of scale that individual African markets cannot provide on their own. This makes the concept of strategic mineral corridors particularly relevant.
A viable corridor could connect a mining district to processing capacity, power generation, rail or road infrastructure, ports and regional markets. The investment opportunity therefore extends beyond the mine itself.
It encompasses the infrastructure around the mineral value chain.
For development-finance institutions, sovereign funds and private investors, this creates potential investment opportunities across mining services, logistics, energy, industrial infrastructure, processing technology and downstream manufacturing.
But it also means that governments must provide clearer rules around licensing, fiscal terms, local-content requirements, infrastructure access and cross-border trade.
Data as Strategic Infrastructure
The inclusion of data sovereignty in the AMSG roundtable’s theme is also significant. A mineral-processing strategy begins with knowing what resources exist, where they are located, their quality and how commercially viable they may be.
Reliable geological data reduces exploration risk and can improve the ability of investors and governments to evaluate mineral opportunities. Tinubu specifically called for stronger geological data and investor access in Nigeria.
For Africa’s critical-minerals ambitions, geological information is therefore not simply a technical resource. It is part of the investment infrastructure underpinning the sector. Greater control and accessibility of high-quality geological data could help African countries negotiate from a stronger information position while improving the efficiency of exploration capital.
The Global Critical-Minerals Race
The timing of the intervention reflects a broader transformation in the global minerals market. Copper, lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and rare earth elements have become strategically important inputs for electric vehicles, batteries, renewable-energy systems, electronics, defence technologies and advanced manufacturing.
Africa possesses significant deposits of several of these resources, but mining dominance does not automatically translate into industrial dominance. The strategic issue is therefore moving from resource ownership to supply-chain position.
Countries that control processing, refining, component manufacturing, technology and logistics can capture economic value beyond the initial extraction stage. Tinubu’s call effectively places African industrialisation inside this emerging global competition for secure mineral supply chains.
From Declaration to Implementation
The central test now is implementation.
The CIEAD provides a framework, but converting that framework into an operating continental mineral strategy would require concrete commitments on financing, infrastructure, policy alignment, project development and accountability.
Tinubu himself stressed that the declaration should be backed by timelines, financing, implementation mechanisms and public accountability rather than ending with the signing ceremony. That distinction will matter to investors.
A policy commitment can establish direction. Bankable projects require predictable rules, infrastructure, capital and credible execution. Africa’s challenge is therefore not a shortage of mineral-policy ambition. It is building the institutional and physical systems capable of translating that ambition into competitive industries.
Strategic Context
Africa’s critical-minerals opportunity is increasingly becoming an industrial-policy question. The continent’s mineral resources coincide with rising global demand for the inputs of electrification, digitalisation and advanced manufacturing. Yet the economic benefits of that demand will depend heavily on where processing, manufacturing, technology development and supporting services are located.
The emerging continental debate therefore goes beyond restricting raw exports. It is about creating the conditions under which African processing and manufacturing can become commercially competitive.
That requires coordinated markets, reliable power, transport infrastructure, geological intelligence, skilled labour, appropriate financing and predictable investment rules. The strategic mineral corridor concept outlined at the AMSG roundtable points toward this broader infrastructure approach.
AFNIS Insight
Tinubu’s intervention at UNGA 81 reinforces a direction that is becoming increasingly visible across Africa: the next phase of the continent’s mineral strategy is likely to be defined less by extraction and more by value-chain positioning.
The opportunity is substantial. Africa can potentially use its mineral endowment to support processing industries, manufacturing, technology development, infrastructure investment and regional trade. But value addition is considerably more capital- and infrastructure-intensive than mineral extraction.
The investment question, therefore, is not simply whether Africa should process more of its minerals. It is where the processing should occur, how it will be financed, what infrastructure will support it, and whether African products can compete in global markets.
For governments, the priority is policy coordination and project-enabling infrastructure. For investors, the opportunity extends beyond mining into processing, energy, logistics, industrial parks, technology and services. For DFIs and sovereign investors, the challenge is helping convert strategic mineral ambitions into bankable projects.
The significance of the AMSG initiative will ultimately depend on whether continental cooperation can move from declarations to integrated mineral corridors, financed projects and functioning industrial value chains. Africa’s mineral wealth is already attracting global demand. The strategic question is how much of the resulting economic value Africa can retain.
“The strategic question is no longer simply what Africa can extract, but how much value it can capture.”