Why Nigeria, other African nations are underdeveloped: Tinubu

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 underdevelop.

The president attributed the continent’s underdevelopment to the fact that the resources were primarily extracted and exported to foreign countries for refining and manufacturing.

Mr Tinubu, represented by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, stated this in a keynote address during 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.

The president noted that extracting raw minerals in Africa had continued to keep the continent impoverished.

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

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

“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,” he said.

Mr Tinubu called on African nations to adopt a new agenda that prioritised local value addition, which was essential to industrialising the continent and providing sustainable economic growth.

Mr Tinubu noted that the development of lithium-ion technology enabled the swift production and manufacturing of portable consumer electronics such as laptops, computers, cellular phones, and electric cars.

“We live in a world of electronic mobility in which lithium-powered batteries provide higher specific energy, higher energy density, higher energy efficiency, longer cycle life, and longer calendar life.

“The global need for new battery technology has triggered a new scramble for Africa’s critical minerals. Africa possesses 92 per cent of global reserves of platinum, 56 per cent of cobalt, 54 per cent of manganese and 36 per cent of Chromium.

“These are the minerals employed in the manufacturing of the new batteries. In short, the world needs Africa today more than ever,” he said.

Mr 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.