By Arinze Nwafor
Africa’s long-standing development model—built around exporting raw materials and importing finished goods—is no longer sustainable and must be fundamentally restructured, according to Abdul Samad Rabiu, Founder and Executive Chairman of BUA Group.
Speaking as Special Guest of Honour at an Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) forum during Mining Indaba 2026, Rabiu urged African governments, development finance institutions (DFIs) and private investors to prioritise local processing, beneficiation and industrial value addition across mining and agriculture.
His message was clear: Africa’s economic future will not be secured through extraction alone, but through industrial transformation.
From Extraction to Industrialisation
Addressing policymakers, financiers and industry leaders at the forum, Rabiu said Africa’s persistent reliance on exporting unprocessed minerals and agricultural commodities has left the continent vulnerable to price volatility, foreign exchange shortages and weak job creation.
“Africa does not lack resources,” Rabiu said. “What it lacks is processing capacity, industrial scale and disciplined execution.”
He pointed to minerals such as gold, copper, cobalt, iron ore and diamonds, as well as agricultural commodities like cocoa, noting that while Africa supplies a significant share of global raw inputs, it captures only a small fraction of the value created further down the supply chain.
This imbalance, he argued, explains why resource-rich African economies continue to struggle with industrialisation, food imports and limited manufacturing depth.
BUA’s Cement Journey: A Case Study in Value Addition
Drawing from BUA Group’s own experience, Rabiu reflected on the company’s strategic decision more than sixteen years ago to move away from cement importation in Nigeria and invest in local mining and processing, despite the high capital requirements and long project timelines.
“At the time, Nigeria was importing cement despite being richly endowed with limestone,” he said. “We were spending more time chasing foreign exchange than selling cement.”
That decision, he noted, was driven not by the availability of raw materials—Nigeria already had them—but by the conviction to invest locally and build industrial capacity.
Today, BUA mines and processes approximately 40,000 tonnes of limestone per day, producing around one million tonnes of cement every month. The transformation has helped Nigeria shift from being a major cement importer to a net exporter, saving the country billions of dollars in foreign exchange annually while creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
The Role of Development Finance in Industrial Growth
Rabiu stressed that such large-scale industrial shifts would not be possible without patient, long-term financing, particularly from African DFIs.
He commended the Africa Finance Corporation for its role in supporting industrial development across the continent, noting that AFC has provided over $400 million in financing to BUA’s cement and industrial operations. A significant portion of these facilities, he added, has already been repaid.
“This proves that African industrial projects, when properly structured, are not only developmental but also commercially viable and recyclable,” Rabiu said.
He also pointed to AFC’s recent S&P Global rating with a positive outlook as evidence of the growing credibility and importance of African-led development finance institutions in mobilising capital for long-term projects.
Agriculture Faces the Same Structural Challenge
Rabiu extended his argument beyond mining, warning that Africa’s agricultural sector suffers from the same value-chain weakness.
Despite holding a majority of the world’s arable land and abundant water resources, Africa continues to import tens of billions of dollars’ worth of food annually. The continent exports raw crops while importing processed food products, missing opportunities for rural industrialisation, employment and income growth.
“Africa’s challenge is not production alone,” he said. “It is processing, storage, logistics and industrial scale.”
He argued that investing in agro-processing, fertiliser production, food manufacturing and rural infrastructure would deliver far greater economic returns than expanding raw commodity exports.
Policy, Power and Infrastructure Are Critical
Rabiu called for coordinated action across the public and private sectors, urging governments to adopt deliberate industrial policies that encourage local processing rather than raw exports.
- Key priorities, he said, include:
- Reliable and affordable power supply
- Efficient transport and logistics infrastructure
- Clear, predictable regulatory frameworks
- Incentives for beneficiation and downstream manufacturing
- Scaled-up long-term financing from DFIs
“Industrialisation does not happen by accident,” Rabiu said. “Countries that industrialised did so by design, not by chance. Africa must do the same.”
From Potential to Prosperity
He concluded by emphasising that Africa stands at a crossroads. With global demand for critical minerals, construction materials and food continuing to rise, the continent has a narrow but powerful window to reposition itself—not as a supplier of raw inputs, but as a processor, manufacturer and exporter of value-added products.
Africa’s opportunity, Rabiu said, lies in aligning private enterprise, patient capital and supportive policy to move from extraction to transformation—and from unrealised potential to shared prosperity.