Stop ‌‍⁠‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‌‌‌⁠ ‌‌Exporting Africa’s Mineral Wealth, Shettima Tells African Leaders

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has urged African countries to stop exporting Africa’s mineral wealth and turn it into jobs and industrial growth.

Shettima also said Africa must strengthen cooperation, process more of its minerals locally and build industries around resources increasingly critical to the global economy.

He spoke at the Third High-Level Roundtable of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), held on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York.

The roundtable, themed “From Resources to Wealth: Continental Cooperation for Mineral Value Addition,” brought together governments, investors and mining-industry stakeholders.

Shettima said the real value of Africa’s enormous mineral endowment should ultimately be measured by its impact on ordinary Africans.

He challenged countries to move away from an economic model in which raw resources leave Africa while finished products return at significantly greater value.