The Vice President and Chief Economist of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Prof. Kevin Urama, has urged African countries to stop exporting raw natural resources and instead focus on adding value to drive industrialisation and sustainable economic growth.
Urama made the call on Thursday while delivering remarks at the closing of the fifth African Natural Resources and Energy Summit (AFNIS) in Abuja.
He said Africa must harness its vast natural resources through local processing, manufacturing and regional integration to unlock greater economic benefits.
According to him, governments should invest in development corridors that connect mining, agriculture, industries and markets, rather than infrastructure designed mainly for exporting raw materials.
“We need to link up corridors that connect markets within Africa instead of building infrastructure mainly for extraction,” Urama said.
He noted that many transport networks across the continent still reflected colonial-era extraction models instead of supporting regional value chains and industrial development.
Urama also stressed the need to strengthen intra-African connectivity, saying the high cost of travel within the continent continued to hinder trade, investment and economic cooperation.
Highlighting Africa’s energy potential, he said the continent possesses about 60 per cent of the world’s technical solar energy potential, in addition to abundant hydro, oil and gas resources, but these remain largely underutilised.
He cited the Inga Dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Sahara’s vast solar resources as examples of opportunities that could transform Africa’s industrial landscape through regional collaboration.
“Countries cannot achieve this alone. We need one Africa, one resource, working together,” he said.
Urama also called for stronger local content policies that promote African ownership of natural resource assets and give regional businesses priority in procurement and licensing.
He noted that countries such as China, South Korea and Singapore successfully used local content policies to accelerate industrial development.
The AfDB vice president further advocated replacing traditional mining concession agreements with minerals development agreements that require investors to process and add value to minerals within Africa.
According to him, local processing would create jobs, promote technology transfer, reduce emissions and lower production costs.
He said AfDB studies indicated that producing lithium-ion battery precursors in Africa could reduce production costs by more than 60 per cent.
Urama added that developing regional mineral value chains would strengthen industrialisation, serve Africa’s 1.5 billion people and contribute to global climate change mitigation.
Source: NAN
