Billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote has called for a stronger focus on processing Nigeria’s mineral resources domestically rather than exporting them in raw form.
Dangote said Nigeria needed to capture more value from its natural resources by developing local processing capacity and building industries around the country’s mineral wealth.
“If we are given the chance, we’re going to disrupt the sector where people normally come and collect our mineral resources, take it out without processing it here. That is our target.”
The remarks align with a broader industrial policy argument that Nigeria should move beyond the extraction and export of raw materials and develop domestic value chains.
Dangote Industries has similarly argued that local processing can generate jobs, increase tax revenues, strengthen industrial capacity and retain more foreign exchange within the Nigerian economy.
The push comes amid growing government and private-sector interest in developing Nigeria’s solid-minerals sector as the country seeks to diversify its economy beyond crude oil.
For Nigeria, greater domestic processing could potentially create opportunities in manufacturing, mining technology, logistics and export-oriented industries.