Keypoints:
- African leaders called for local processing of minerals and oil
- Tinubu defended Nigeria’s refinery-led industrial strategy
- Governments urged African banks to finance domestic growth
AFRICAN leaders are increasingly demanding that foreign investors process minerals, oil and agricultural commodities inside the continent rather than exporting raw materials abroad, signalling a sharper turn toward economic nationalism and industrial sovereignty.
At the just-ended Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Gabonese President Brice Oligui Nguema used the platform to argue that Africa must gain greater control over its resources, industrial production and financing systems as global competition intensifies around critical minerals, energy security and digital infrastructure.
Their remarks highlighted how governments across the continent are increasingly linking industrial policy, resource sovereignty and regional integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area as they seek to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains and external financing.
Leaders push local transformation
The strongest theme emerging from the Kigali discussions was the growing insistence that Africa must stop functioning primarily as a supplier of raw commodities to industrial economies abroad.
For decades, African states exported crude oil, raw minerals and agricultural commodities while foreign companies captured most of the profits through refining, manufacturing and advanced processing overseas.
That model is now facing mounting political resistance.
Tinubu framed the issue in blunt terms.
‘We do not want scavengers. We do not want extractors. We want people to add value,’ he said.
The Nigerian leader argued that investors operating in Africa should process resources locally and create industrial jobs rather than simply extracting commodities for export.
Oligui Nguema made a similar case regarding Gabon’s manganese sector.
Gabon possesses some of the world’s highest-grade manganese reserves and has exported the mineral for decades. However, the country still carries out little domestic processing.
‘We have produced manganese for around 60 years, but we have never transformed it locally,’ he said.
The Gabonese president indicated that companies operating in the sector would face increasing pressure to process minerals domestically.
He said Gabon had set a 2029 target for expanding local transformation capacity, reflecting a wider continental shift toward industrial value addition.
The trend is becoming increasingly visible across Africa. Countries including Namibia and Zimbabwe have introduced restrictions or new policies aimed at encouraging domestic mineral processing rather than raw exports.
The push has intensified as global demand rises for lithium, cobalt, manganese, graphite and rare earth minerals used in electric vehicles, battery storage and renewable energy technologies.
Africa is estimated to hold around 30 percent of the world’s critical mineral reserves, giving the continent growing strategic leverage in the global energy transition.
Africa’s growing strategic importance in critical minerals has already reshaped global competition for influence across the continent, as explored in Africa’s critical minerals drive global power shift.
Tinubu defends refinery-led strategy
Tinubu used Nigeria’s refinery strategy as a central example of industrial self-sufficiency.
The Nigerian president defended government support for the Dangote Group refinery project, arguing that refining capacity had become a matter of national stability and economic security.
‘Nigeria would not be able to survive peacefully with over 200 million people without a refinery,’ he said.
The refinery, developed by billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote, is one of Africa’s largest industrial projects, with capacity estimated at around 650,000 barrels per day.
Nigeria had long remained heavily dependent on imported refined fuel despite being one of Africa’s largest crude oil producers.
Tinubu said his government backed the refinery through policy support and crude supply arrangements denominated in naira rather than dollars in an effort to reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
He also argued that African countries should deepen trade using local currencies and establish continental commodity exchange platforms capable of linking producers across borders.
The comments aligned with wider AfCFTA ambitions to strengthen regional trade integration.
However, intra-African trade still accounts for less than 18 percent of total African trade, significantly below integration levels in Europe and Asia.
The rise of the Dangote refinery is already reshaping regional fuel dynamics.
African capital remains underutilised
Financing emerged as another major theme throughout the forum.
African leaders repeatedly questioned why African institutional capital continues flowing into foreign assets while infrastructure and industrial projects at home struggle to secure funding.
The continent’s pension funds and institutional investors collectively control trillions of dollars in assets, yet much of that capital remains invested outside Africa.
Tinubu sharply criticised international credit rating agencies, arguing that African economies are often undervalued by global financial institutions.
‘What would they know about Rwanda?’ he asked while praising Rwanda’s economic growth and tourism sector.
The Nigerian president argued that Africa needed stronger domestic financial systems capable of funding strategic industries independently.
Oligui Nguema similarly urged African banks to provide lower-cost financing to entrepreneurs and industrial projects.
‘Why leave our companies to borrow at high rates?’ he asked.
The discussion reflected wider frustration among African policymakers over debt vulnerabilities, high borrowing costs and continued dependence on external lenders.
Africa’s infrastructure financing gap alone is estimated at more than $100bn annually, according to development finance estimates.
Energy and infrastructure dominate agenda
Infrastructure and energy security also featured heavily during the discussions.
Tinubu argued that industrialisation would remain impossible without large-scale investments in roads, logistics, storage systems and agricultural mechanisation.
The Nigerian leader linked food security directly to national economic resilience.
‘Food sovereignty is crucially important for us,’ he said.
Tinubu highlighted road projects intended to improve regional trade connectivity across West Africa and defended Nigeria’s strategy of supporting domestic cement producers for infrastructure construction.
Oligui Nguema similarly described electricity access as fundamental to development.
‘Energy today is development,’ he said.
The Gabonese leader acknowledged that Gabon still imports more than 70 percent of its food despite possessing substantial agricultural potential.
He said his government was attempting to reverse that dependence through agricultural reforms, land allocation policies and subsidised financing for younger farmers.
The issue extends across much of the continent.
Africa’s annual food import bill exceeds $80bn despite the continent possessing around 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land.
Digital sovereignty enters the debate
The forum also revealed how rapidly digital infrastructure is becoming tied to questions of sovereignty and strategic autonomy.
Tinubu highlighted Nigeria’s fibre-optic expansion plans and argued that digital connectivity would determine whether African economies remain competitive in the global economy.
He said governments must support investments in artificial intelligence, e-commerce and digital infrastructure.
Oligui Nguema warned that foreign-controlled data centres could create new forms of dependency if African states fail to develop local technological expertise.
‘Our youth should also be trained to take over and control those data centres,’ he said.
The remarks reflected growing concern across Africa about data governance, cybersecurity and technological dependency.
Countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are increasingly positioning themselves as regional technology and digital infrastructure hubs.
Internet penetration across Africa remains significantly below the global average, reinforcing concerns that the continent could fall further behind in the emerging AI-driven economy without accelerated investment.
Digital integration is also becoming central to continental trade ambitions, as noted in AfCFTA unveils Africa’s digital trade backbone.
Pan-Africanism returns to economic policy
Underlying the entire discussion was a renewed emphasis on pan-African economic coordination.
Recent global shocks — including Covid-19 supply disruptions, vaccine inequality, geopolitical tensions and commodity price volatility — appear to have strengthened calls for greater continental self-reliance.
Both leaders repeatedly linked economic integration with political sovereignty.
Oligui Nguema argued that Africa possessed sufficient resources to chart a more independent development path without excessive external dependence.
‘We have all the resources to succeed,’ he said.
Tinubu also expressed optimism that younger African populations would increasingly demand stronger economic integration and industrial growth from political leaders.
The challenge, however, remains implementation.
Political fragmentation, weak institutions, infrastructure deficits, corruption and financing constraints continue to slow regional integration efforts despite the ambitions of AfCFTA.
Still, the discussions in Kigali suggested that African governments increasingly view industrialisation, local processing and economic self-sufficiency not simply as development goals, but as necessities in a rapidly fragmenting global economy.
Africa’s trade integration agenda has accelerated under AfCFTA, though implementation gaps remain significant, according to AfCFTA drives Africa’s $230bn trade surge.
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