UNGA80: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on world leaders to recognise Africa’s ownership of its vast natural resources, particularly strategic minerals, as key to ensuring sustainable development and global peace. Speaking at the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the Nigerian leader said Africa’s mineral wealth is too critical to be left under systems that benefit others more than the continent itself.
The President, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, noted that Africa is richly endowed with the critical minerals that will power the future of technology, including batteries, renewable energy, and digital industries. He stressed that unless African nations take control of their mineral resources and ensure local processing, the continent would continue to export raw materials at the expense of development, job creation, and social stability.
Tinubu warned that this pattern of exploitation does not only fuel inequality but also generates tension and instability across African states. “Africa, and I must include Nigeria – has in abundance the critical minerals that will drive the technologies of the future,” he said. “Investment in exploration, development and processing of these minerals in Africa will diversify supply to the international market, reduce tensions between major economies, and help shape the architecture for peace and prosperity.”
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Tinubu’s Call for Local Control and Fair Benefit Sharing
President Tinubu urged the international community to support Africa’s efforts in managing its strategic minerals more equitably. He emphasised that countries producing these valuable resources must receive fair benefits, not just from raw exports, but through structured partnerships that guarantee local investment, industrial development, and job opportunities.
“When we export raw materials, as we have been doing, tension, inequality, and instability fester,” the President said, making the case that Africa must become a center of value addition, not just a supplier of unprocessed commodities.
The Nigerian President’s appeal comes at a time of growing global demand for minerals such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, and rare earth elements materials central to clean energy and advanced technology. By positioning itself as a key player in the value chain, Africa, he argued, could not only boost its economies but also play a stabilizing role in international markets.
He explained that local processing of mineral wealth would create industries across Africa, generating employment opportunities and raising government revenues. He also pointed out that resource-rich countries must see fair benefits from their minerals, including the kind of long-term partnerships that foster infrastructure growth, healthcare, and education. Developing internal capacity, he stressed, would diversify international supply chains and reduce the friction among competing global powers.
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He insisted that strategic control of minerals would strengthen Africa’s bargaining power, reduce inequality, and promote peace across the continent. For Nigeria in particular, Tinubu noted that resource management tied to industrial growth could anchor the government’s ongoing reforms and serve as a blueprint for wider African prosperity.
Critically, Tinubu framed resource control as a peace-building tool. Inequality and instability, he argued, thrive when African countries export their raw wealth without reaping the full value. But by ensuring fair benefit sharing, local processing, and industrialization, resource-rich nations can foster inclusive growth and strengthen regional stability.
The Nigerian President therefore urged developed nations, investors, and international organisations to support Africa’s quest for resource control. He noted that this is not an act of charity but a mutually beneficial strategy for peace, prosperity, and stability in an interconnected world.
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