FG seeks Lagos-Dakar minerals corridor to unlock Africa’s mineral wealth

Nigeria, alongside the African Development Bank, is calling for enhanced African control over the continent's abundant mineral resources, emphasizing the need to stop exporting raw materials while importing finished goods derived from them. This push aims to ensure Africa derives greater economic benefits from its natural wealth.

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Africa must stop allowing its natural wealth to leave its shores in raw form while importing finished products made from the same resources.

Dele Alake, Nigeria's Minister of Solid Minerals Development, proposed the establishment of a West African minerals processing corridor. This corridor would stretch from Lagos to Dakar, modeled after the successful Lobito Corridor in Central and Southern Africa. The initiative seeks to foster regional value chains and processing capabilities, thereby increasing the value derived from minerals.

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Africa’s mineral resources could deliver far greater economic benefits if countries worked together to develop shared infrastructure, regional value chains and common standards.

The ministerial forum, organized by the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, brought together over 20 ministers and representatives from development finance institutions and mining companies. Alake urged African countries to move beyond isolated national approaches and adopt a coordinated strategy for managing, processing, and maximizing the value of their mineral wealth.

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While the mantra of value addition has ushered in an era of economic independence for mineral-producing nations, we need concrete, actionable strategies to take charge and be in full control of our natural assets to ensure total economic freedom.

Alake, who also chairs the Africa Mineral Strategy Group, stressed that African countries need sovereignty not only over their mineral resources but also over the data and technical systems used to assess their value. He criticized the continent's reliance on foreign reporting standards for mineral exploration and reserves, advocating for Africa to develop and adopt systems that reflect its own geological, environmental, and economic realities. The adoption of the Pan-African Resource Reporting Code was specifically recommended to promote transparency and ethical competence in resource certification.

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For the overall interest of the continent, and to efficiently and effectively safeguard its resources, Africa should take charge of the coding mechanisms utilised to assess its mineral assets.