Mr Augustus “Goosie” Tanoh, Senior Presidential Advisor on the 24-Hour Economy, has called on African countries to use their abundant critical mineral resources to accelerate industrialisation, create decent jobs and transform their economies instead of continuing to export raw materials.
He said Africa’s growing importance in the global energy transition presented a unique opportunity for economic transformation but stressed that governments must adopt deliberate policies to ensure greater value was retained from the continent’s mineral resources.
Mr Tanoh made the call at the opening of the High-Level Conference on Governance, Critical Minerals and Conflict in Africa in Accra.
The three-day conference, organised by the Open Society Foundations, has brought together government officials, civil society organisations, researchers, mining communities, development partners and private sector representatives to discuss the governance of Africa’s critical minerals.
“The overwhelming central emerging task before us is clear: the world definitely will use Africa’s minerals. The question is whether Africa will use them to build its own industries, create decent jobs and strengthen peace, or be a collaborator and bystander,” he said.
Mr Tanoh noted that Africa possessed significant deposits of critical minerals required for renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles and digital manufacturing.
However, he said the continent continued to export these resources in their raw form while importing higher-value finished products, limiting the economic benefits available to African countries.
He urged African governments to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to develop regional mineral value chains that promote local processing, manufacturing and intra-African trade.
Mr Tanoh said Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy policy was aligned with that objective by integrating mineral resources with affordable energy, manufacturing, technology, transport and skills development to build a competitive industrial economy.
“Africa has had many mineral booms before. Too often, the export earnings grew while the factories, technologies and skills were built elsewhere on other continents to benefit other people. This time, the measure of success must be different,” he said.
He stressed that industrialization must be supported by transparency, environmental stewardship and meaningful community participation to ensure that Africa’s mineral wealth promoted sustainable development rather than conflict and inequality.
