The federal government is crafting forward-looking policies, deploying digital tools, traceability infrastructure and research-to-industry pathways to ensure Africa moves from extraction to transformation—from potential to prosperity, under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Blueprint has gathered.
This, according to the federal government, is because, for too long, Nigeria and other Africa countries had exported raw materials and imported dependencies, hence the need for the continent to accelerate value addition across Africa’s raw materials sector and strengthen industrial resilience and economic sovereignty.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Uche Geoffrey Nnaji disclosed this Tuesday in Abuja during the opening ceremony of a 3-day Africa Raw Materials Summit 2025, with the theme “Shaping the Future of Africa’s Resource Landscape.”
While stating that the value addition was no longer aspirational but imperative, the minister described it as “the bridge between poverty and prosperity, the path to youth empowerment, SME growth and global competitiveness.”
“As Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, I have the distinct privilege of overseeing Nigeria’s national innovation ecosystem, driving our agenda for industrial development, digital transformation, clean energy integration and technology-enabled governance. It is within these mandates that the mission for this summit was conveyed, a platform to accelerate value addition across Africa’s raw materials sector and to strengthen our continent’s industrial resilience and economic sovereignty.
“Africa stands at a defining threshold. For too long, we have exported raw materials and imported dependencies. The summit’s theme, ‘Shaping the Future of Africa’s Resource Landscape’, challenges us to rewrite this narrative. This is not just a policy document, it is a continental declaration of intent, a call to build economies where value is retained.
“Industries are localized, and innovation drives progress. Value addition is no longer aspirational. It is imperative. It is the bridge between poverty and prosperity. The path to youth empowerment, SME growth, and global competitiveness. I commend the Raw Materials Research and Development Council for its ground breaking efforts in driving Nigeria’s 30% minimum value addition policy and for establishing this summit as a unified platform for Africa’s industrial future.
“The Ministry remains unwavering in his support to Nigeria’s 30% Minimum Value-Addition Policy. We are crafting forward-looking policies, deploying digital flexibility and stratification infrastructure and scaling research to commercialization frameworks to ensure that local content forms a pillar of inter-African trade under African Continental Free Trade Agreement, with partners across the country.
“We are working to shift the axis of trade from raw to refined, from extraction to transformation. Let this summit declare firmly and irreversibly that Africa will no longer export its future in unprocessed form.
“Our cocoa, our cassava, industrial inputs, will feed global markets, and our youth will drive innovation as engineers, scientists, and the wealth creators of tomorrow. Let us make this summit not merely memorable, but monumental, a catalytic moment in our shared journey toward economic dignity and sustainable prosperity,” Nnaji said.
…RMRDC on industrial renaissance
Also speaking, Director-General Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda as lighting the flames of an industrial renaissance rooted in local transformation, inclusive prosperity, and strategic value addition.
He said, with the proposed bill by RMRDC at the National Assembly, there will be no less than 30 per cent value addition to every raw material before it crosses Nigeria’s borders.
Ike-Muonso said: “This summit is our moment, where Africa reclaims its narrative, redefines its destiny, and rededicates itself to transforming raw wealth into real wealth, from the soil beneath our feet through the genius within our people.
“This summit is not just a dialogue; it is Africa’s proclamation of industrial independence, a renewed consciousness of authentically becoming producers of value rather than exporters of potential. President Thabo Mbeki once warned, “Africa’s growth will only be sustainable when we process what we produce and add value before we export.” That truth burns brighter than ever.
“I want to appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his commitment to revitalization the raw material subsector of the Nigeria economy with laudable initiatives, a feat that has birth the convergence of this timely Summit. Indeed, his astute commitment to the economic prosperity of our country is unrivalled.
“Here in Nigeria, under the visionary leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Nigeria First Policy is lighting the flames of an industrial renaissance, a Renewed Hope rooted in local transformation, inclusive prosperity, and strategic value addition. He powerfully declared two years ago that, “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. That cycle should end now.”
“We have embraced this call with zeal and measurable resolve at the Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), a statutory agency with a primary mandate on raw materials research and utilization. Since the inception of the administration of President Bola Tinubu, his policy support has made our benchmark on value addition very clear.
“With the proposed bill at the National Assembly, no less than 30% value addition to every raw material before it crosses our borders. Minimum requirement is not an aspiration, it is a standard. Aligned with the thresholds of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme, similar schemes from other sub-regional blocs and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), it is our blueprint for a truly industrialized, interconnected, and prosperous Africa.