President Bola Tinubu has called for a fairer global framework that guarantees value addition at the source and ensures that communities hosting critical minerals in Nigeria and across Africa benefit equitably from their natural endowments.
He also reaffirmed Nigeria’s support for the establishment of global ethical standards for Artificial Intelligence (AI), insisting that the technology must accelerate development without deepening inequality.
The President made the call at the Third Session of the 2025 G20 Leaders’ Summit, held at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, South Africa, with the theme: “A Fair and Just Future for All: Critical Minerals, Decent Work, Artificial Intelligence.” He was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Tinubu noted that for Nigeria and Africa, critical minerals represent more than natural deposits; they offer a path to genuine industrial transformation.
However, he warned that resource ownership alone does not guarantee prosperity unless extraction and trade are anchored on fairness, transparency, and accountability.
“Nigeria calls for a global framework that promotes value addition at the source, supports local beneficiation, and ensures that communities hosting these resources are not left behind,” he said.
“The issue before us goes beyond the arithmetic of economics; it speaks to the moral character of the world we aspire to build.”
The President stressed that as nations navigate green and digital transitions, people must remain at the centre.
He described decent work as the foundation of inclusive development, ensuring every citizen has the opportunity to contribute, thrive, and share in national prosperity.
He added that through the Renewed Hope Agenda, Nigeria is investing in future-ready skills by empowering young people with digital literacy, vocational training, and entrepreneurship support.
On AI governance, Tinubu stated that the challenge before world leaders is to ensure that AI serves humanity rather than undermining it.
“Nigeria supports the creation of global ethical standards for AI that uphold safety, transparency, and equity,” he said. “We must ensure that AI becomes a tool of empowerment, not exclusion, of job creation, not displacement.”
To unlock AI’s development potential, he called for intentional partnerships between developed and developing countries, the public and private sectors, and innovators and regulators.
He urged the G20 to address systemic bias and strengthen multilateral dialogue to ensure that AI’s benefits are equitably shared and its risks responsibly managed.
The President maintained that critical minerals, decent work, and AI are united by a common objective: creating an economy that uplifts rather than excludes, and one that measures progress not only by growth but by the dignity it guarantees every human being.
He urged the G20 to help build a future where Africa is not merely a supplier of raw minerals but a hub for value creation and innovation.
On global financial governance, President Tinubu also urged world leaders to adopt a more equitable and responsive system to manage financial flows and tackle persistent debt crises.
Many developing nations, he said, still face systemic constraints that limit growth, weaken trade, and hinder financial inclusion.
He lamented that existing multilateral frameworks “were built in an era far removed from today’s realities,” noting that this year’s G20 theme, centred on inclusive and sustainable growth, trade, financing for development, and debt, captures the pressing challenges facing developing regions.
“For trade to be truly inclusive, the G20 must take bold and deliberate steps to reform the international financial architecture and the global institutions that sustain it,” he declared.
“Only a more equitable system can manage global financial flows fairly, address recurring debt crises sincerely, and meet the needs of all nations, especially those in the Global South, who have too often stood at the margins of global opportunity.”
Tinubu stressed that Africa cannot shift its development trajectory without the collective resolve of the G20, particularly regarding sustainable financing for its priority projects.
Rising debt burdens, he warned, continue to push economies into cycles of fragility and turn local crises into global vulnerabilities.
He urged G20 leaders to place debt sustainability and responsible mineral utilisation at the heart of their agenda for inclusive development.
“In adopting the Leaders’ Declaration, the G20 must take seriously the responsibility to advance policies that drive sustainable growth, promote financial inclusion, and confront emerging risks,” he added.
