Africa should prioritise value creation over resource export
The most urgent priority facing Africa today is to move from being a supplier of raw materials to becoming a value creator. Hitherto, the continent has exported its resources, to be processed elsewhere, which has left the continent poor, said Nigerian Solid Minerals Development Minister Dr Oladele Alake, in a keynote speech earlier this month at the Africa Mining Week 2025 conference, in Cape Town, delivered on his behalf by Nigerian Solid Minerals Department Permanent Secretary Yusuf Faruk Yabo.
Africa must transform its natural resources into a platform for industrial growth and development, he asserted. This was the policy of Nigeria.
To become a value creator, Africa needed to build five strategic pillars, he said.
The first was beneficiation and value addition and required the establishment of processing plants, including for rare earth minerals, as well as refineries for other metals.
The second was infrastructure and energy, since industrialisation needed reliable power and digital linkages.
Third, was technology and skills. Africa needed investment in research, technological education and innovation.
The fourth pillar was responsible and sustainable mining, as Africa could not industrialise at the expense of its people or the planet.
The fifth pillar focused on investment and policy alignment across the continent.
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