President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday night lamented that Africa remains underdeveloped despite holding a significant portion of the world’s mineral reserves.
Tinubu, who made the presentation 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, noted that the continent holds 92 percent of global platinum, 56 percent of cobalt, and 54 percent of manganese.
He said the continent was underdeveloped because its resources were primarily extracted and exported to foreign countries for refining and manufacturing.
Represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the President noted that the extraction of 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 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.
“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 called on African nations to adopt a new agenda that prioritised local value addition to stimulating industrialisation and sustainable economic growth on the continent.
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