President Bola Tinubu has called on West African leaders to end the practice of exporting raw minerals without processing them, urging a shift toward regional manufacturing and value addition.
Speaking at the inaugural West Africa Economic Summit on Saturday in Abuja, Tinubu said the region must move away from extractive models that have historically failed to translate into economic development for its people.
“West Africa is one of the last great frontiers of economic growth. Yet opportunity alone does not guarantee transformation,” he said.
“Opportunity is not destiny. We must earn it through vision, integration, policy coherence, collaboration, and capital alignment.
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“Intra-regional trade remains under 10%—a challenge we can no longer afford to ignore. The low trade is not due to a failure of will but a coordination failure.
“The global economy will not wait for West Africa to get its act together, and neither should we. Rather than competing in isolation or relying on external partners, we must strengthen our regional value chains, invest in infrastructure, and coordinate our policies.”
The president, who is also the chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, said Africa had been left behind in previous industrial revolutions and could not afford to miss the next one.
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“Let us also recognise that Africa was left behind in previous industrial revolutions. We cannot afford to miss the next one,” he said.
“Our rare minerals power tomorrow’s green technologies—yet it is not enough to be resource-rich; we must become value-chain smart and invest in local processing and regional manufacturing.”
Tinubu said that the task ahead is to find new, effective ways to invest, and Africa must stop the “pit to port” era.
Pit to port refers to the process of extracting raw minerals from the ground and transporting them directly to export terminals or ports, without adding value through processing or manufacturing within the country or region.
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“The era of pit to port must end. We must turn our mineral wealth into domestic economic value—jobs, technology, and manufacturing,” he said.
“The fundamental transformation will not come solely from government but from unleashing our people’s entrepreneurial spirit.
“Governments must provide the right environment—law, order, and market-friendly policies—while the private sector drives growth.”
The president added that West African countries must work together to build a region that is investable, competitive, and resilient — one that is driven by vision, anchored in responsibility, and united in purpose.
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