Tinubu Seeks African Unity to Protect Continent’s Mineral Wealth

President Bola Tinubu called for a fresh continental effort to prevent Africa from continuing to exploit its critical mineral resources while remaining impoverished. Speaking at a high-level roundtable during the UN General Assembly, Tinubu urged African nations to unite against exporting raw materials and instead focus on processing, refining, and adding value to the continent's mineral wealth.

He emphasized that the continent cannot claim prosperity while its people suffer poverty near mines that benefit others. Tinubu highlighted that Africa's critical minerals, such as cobalt, copper, lithium, and rare earth elements, are essential for global supply chains and economic security. To achieve this, he argued that African countries must overcome challenges like inadequate infrastructure, lack of jobs, and insufficient stake in their own wealth.

The President stressed that no single African nation can achieve this alone, as cooperation is crucial for creating scale, integration, financing reach, and negotiating power. Nigeria, Tinubu noted, must require local value addition for new mining licenses, strengthen geological data and investor access, organize artisanal miners into cooperatives, combat illegal mining, and improve regulatory accountability.

He outlined Nigeria's mining policy, which ensures that minerals extracted in the country benefit Nigerian industries, workers, skills, and communities. Tinubu invited other African nations to adopt the Nigerian experience for adaptation across the continent, advocating for reliable partnerships grounded in mutual benefit, shared responsibility, sovereign equality, and respect for priorities.

The President also urged AMSG members to speak with one voice to promote collective interest, insisting that reliability should never mean dependency and partnership must never demand inequality. The President's administration adopted and signed a Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD) at the roundtable, aimed at establishing a predictable, investment-ready environment for Africa's Strategic Mineral Corridors, harmonized policies, responsible investment, and shared infrastructure.