Africa must halt the export of raw, unprocessed minerals and commodities to unlock an estimated $8.6 trillion in undeveloped resource wealth, ministers and industrial leaders warned at a regional summit in Abuja. Delegates at the 2nd African Raw Materials Summit pressed for urgent legislative and policy shifts across the continent to build in-country refining and manufacturing capacity.
The calls come as African governments seek to capture higher margins along global supply chains and maximize the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Africa holds 30 percent of global critical mineral reserves, including key deposits of cobalt, lithium, manganese, rare earths, and bauxite essential for the global energy transition, yet the continent’s share of global manufacturing value-added remains in low single digits. Nigeria is positioning itself at the forefront of the policy shift.
An amended bill mandating a minimum 30 percent local value addition on all raw material exports before shipping has passed through parliament and is currently awaiting presidential assent. ”What we continue to do is export jobs, export prosperity, and import all of it back,” said John Owan Enoh, Nigeria’s minister of State for Industry, Trade & Investment.
“The bill will make it mandatory that no raw material from this country gets exported without at least adding value to at least 30 percent.” If signed into law, the policy could help propel Nigeria’s economy to $1 trillion by 2030, according to Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, minister of Innovation, Science and Technology. Nigeria has already rolled out targeted export restrictions, including a ban on raw shea nut exports to protect a local market valued at $300 million, while mobilizing more than 644.9 billion naira ($435 million) through the Bank of Industry in 2025 to fund industrial capacity.