By Olawale Lamina
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, has emphasized the need for Africa to rewrite its history powered by its minerals for local development.
The minister who doubles as the chairman of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), stated the imperative at the unveiling of the fourth edition of the AFNISG, Wednesday in Abuja.
The three-day event came under the theme ‘Harnessing Local Content for Sustainable Development.
Alake noted that the summit was beyond exchange of ideas but mainly focused on the need to explore opportunities where Africa as a continent can benefit from sustained wealth.
He stressed on the need to build a future where Africa’s natural wealth is no longer a statistic in another person’s record.
The minister said: ”We aspire to a continent where its natural wealth serves as a driving force for industrial growth, equity, and sustainable development.
”In line with the aspirations of Agenda 2063, this gathering marks a decisive step towards a development model anchored on our priorities.”
According to him, Africa’s natural resources held a vast potential for meeting sustainable development goals, which must include policies such as value addition of its minerals to achieve the vision.
The minister said that, ”Local content requires Africa to shift away from exporting raw materials and instead build factories, refine minerals, generate power locally, and create jobs,” noting that the continent should be making progress in building green industrial zones where gas resource can be transformed into fertiliser, limestone into cement, and lithium develops into battery storage.
The noted that the Dangote industries in the country had demonstrated what is possible when a nation prioritises local content and harness it’s value chains.
“Let us establish more of such investments across Africa, not just in one city or country, but in every region,” he said.
According to him, one of the major highlights of 2025 AFNIS would be the formal launch of the ‘Africans for Africa’ Fund, an initiative which aims to mobilise African capital for African priorities.
”The launch of the Africans for Africa Fund under AFNIS further reinforces this agenda. We want to see our pension funds, banks, and sovereign funds investing in our extractive future.
”When Africans own the value chain, the benefits multiply. Let this summit be the place where bold commitments are made and where value addition becomes a shared continental goal,” he observed.
Earlier,,Kenya’s Minister for Mining, Blue Economy, Shipping, and Maritime Affairs, Hassan Joho, called on to Africa to take decisive steps by adding value to its minerals.
He stressed that this can only be achieved by engaging in meaningful conversations about Africa’s future using the summit’s platform,
He emphasized the commitment of his country to implementing value chain extraction.
Also, Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, said that as current global direction has moved toward decentralization, digitization, and decarbonisation, which Nigeria is working to ensure that local content is beyond a policy slogan.
He said that the Federal Government is determined to ensure that local content becomes a measurable driver towards achieving the nation’s economic growth, industrial capacity, and energy security.
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