Tinubu: Why Africa is underdeveloped

President Bola Tinubu says Africa holds a significant portion of the world’s mineral reserves, including 92 per cent of global platinum, 56 per cent of cobalt, and 54 per cent of manganese, yet the continent is underdeveloped.

Tinubu attributed Africa’s underdevelopment to the resources primarily extracted and exported to foreign countries for refining and manufacturing.

The president stated this at the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) meeting held on the sidelines of the ongoing 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States, on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.

Tinubu was represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

Tinubu, according to a statement issued by Shettima’s spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, noted that extracting raw minerals in Africa had continued to keep the continent in a state of poverty.

According to him, the extraction of raw minerals without local processing only deepens Africa’s underdevelopment and prolongs its economic challenges.

Tinubu, therefore, stressed the urgent need for the continent to break free from the dependency.

He said: “This has left the continent at the mercy of foreign markets, forcing it to repurchase finished products at much higher prices.

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“A situation in which the raw minerals are extracted from our countries, exported, refined, and sold to us as finished products merely consolidates the foundations of our misery and pushes us further down the depths of underdevelopment.”

The president also called on African nations to adopt a new agenda that prioritised local value addition, which he said was essential to industrialising the continent and providing sustainable economic growth.

Tinubu further emphasised Africa’s determination to move beyond the historical exploitation of its resources, advocating the localisation of the entire mineral value chain within the continent.

He assured of his administration’s commitment to adding local value to Nigeria’s mineral resources as part of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group’s (AMSG) vision chaired by Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake.

Tinubu drew attention to Nigeria’s vast market of over 226 million people, adding that the success of the country’s 10 billion dollars telecoms market is proof of its growth potential.

“This is evident in the manufacturing of Lithium batteries, concentrates and components to set up their business and domesticate the value chain from extraction to production in Nigeria,” the president added.

The Star