*Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, urges member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group to present a common front to promote collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the global community
Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has urged member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) to speak with one voice to promote the collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
The President gave the charge Tuesday, June 23, 2026, while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, in Abuja, FCT.
SEC justifies ban on promotion of Dangote Refinery’s IPO, warns against Capital market manipulation
ConsumerConnect reports the AMSG is a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the African continent.
Dr. Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Honourable Minister for Solid Minerals Development (MSMD) chairs the Group while President Tinubu is Grand Patron of the group.
Tinubu also told the visiting delegation that the group has a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market while ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
He also explained what Africans should do is to avoid bureaucracy and deceit.
Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Tuesday stated President Tinubu said: “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.”
Tinubu stated: “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.
“It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery.”
On maximising new model of local minerals value addition
The Nigerian leader explained: “I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent.
“So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
He equally emphasised that Africa possesses enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent.
According to Tinubu, the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Speaking at the forum also, Dr. Alake, Chairman of AMSG and Nigeria’s Minister for Solid Minerals Development, expressed gratitude to President Tinubu for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Alake emphasised that Tinubu has shown support for the country’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He said other African countries were already emulating the. approach.
Alake told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge, and we are sure that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
Some member countries, he stated, have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
The AMSG Chairman also said that the President that AMSG members are in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), where leaders are expected to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
The Federal Government disclosed the Summit, with the theme, “One Africa. One Resource Vision”, aimed to position Africa as a major player in the global critical minerals value chain by promoting beneficiation, industrialisation and strategic cooperation among member states.
The Minister reaffirmed the AMSG’s commitment to upholding Africa’s interests, particularly in increasing the value and revenue accruing to the continent from its mineral sector, in line with President Tinubu’s enduring appeals.