- ‘Our youths shouldn’t run abroad while opportunities are here beneath their feet’
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development and Chairman of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), Dr. Dele Alake, has called for the transformation of Africa from a raw mineral supplier to a global hub for mineral processing, innovation, and green industrialisation.
He said the continent should play a strategic role in powering the 21st-century economy through its vast mineral wealth.
Alake said this in a keynote address he delivered at the African Mining Week in Cape Town, South Africa, with the theme: Vision and Strategy – Setting the Stage for Minerals Industrialisation.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja by his Special Assistant on Media, Segun Tomori, the minister noted that Africa is home to some of the richest mineral deposits in the world, stressing that the resources are critical to clean energy, digital technologies, advanced manufacturing, and global security.
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Alake said: “Africa’s minerals have powered industrialisation elsewhere while our own economies remain under-industrialised. This paradox must end. Our vision must be clear: to move from extractive dependence to transformative industrialisation.
“Our youth should no longer seek jobs abroad while opportunities lie buried beneath their feet. The time to industrialise is now. Let us set the stage for an Africa that is not just a participant in the global minerals economy, but a driver of its future.”
Highlighting the ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s mining sector, the minister, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Farouk Yabo, stated that the nation was incentivising local beneficiation from gold refining to Lithium processing; revoking dormant licences to promote serious investment; strengthening governance and transparency to attract credible global partners, and building a national critical minerals strategy.
Also, the minister addressed the ministerial roundtable of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) on the sidelines of the mining week, highlighting Nigeria’s efforts to create a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Alake said: “We are investing in digitising mining processes from data accessibility to mineral traceability. We are also focusing on bequeathing strong institutions and the right policies to drive reforms, hence the ongoing efforts to amend the 2007 Minerals and Mining Act to provide a more robust legislative framework that will propel investments in the mining sector.”
The minister emphasised Nigeria’s commitment to ensure traceability from mining to monetisation, affirming that the nation’s minerals are set to come from two sources: licensed holders or a seller and supplier buying from Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners (ASM) who are registered and formalised.
Echoing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Alake stressed that African countries must prioritise mapping their mineral resources to better understand the location and scale of deposits.
“After national mapping, it is the duty of countries to ensure only licensed operators are mining. We must also build adequate capacity for effective supervision,” he said.
