Minister of Solid Minerals Development and Chair of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), Dr. Dele Alake, has reiterated Africa’s dedication to empowering women with the necessary skills for active involvement in the mining industry.
Speaking at the International Women’s Day Forum 2024 organized by the Women Miners Association, Dr. Alake commended the organizers for prioritizing the advancement and challenges faced by women in mining.
He charged the African continent to be resolute in its resolve to make value addition the strategy for wealth retention, stressing that African Ministers of Mining are determined to put in place policies which discourage export of raw materials and encourage industrial processing of minerals into semi-finished goods for exports.
“This will reduce the obnoxious legacy of unequal exchange, which African scholars see as the manifestion of neo-colonialism.
“Let us elevate the quality of commerce with our trading partners by offering more value. The faithful execution of this policy will provide more jobs and deepen capital formation in the mining industry, “the Minister asserted.
It will be recalled that on the sidelines of the “Invest in African Mining Indaba”, in South-africa, Alake was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a body of African Ministers of Solid Minerals/Mineral Resources championing value addition and maximum beneficiation from the continent’s vast mineral resources for the development of member countries.