At the Third Session of the 2025 G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, President Bola Tinubu urged the world to ensure that communities hosting critical minerals in Nigeria and Africa benefit directly from their resources. He also reaffirmed Nigeria’s backing for global ethical standards in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to promote inclusive development. Vice President Kashim Shettima represented him at the summit, themed “A Fair and Just Future for All: Critical Minerals, Decent Work, Artificial Intelligence.”
Tinubu stressed that critical minerals hold transformative potential but must be governed with 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, noting that the issue is both economic and moral.
On human capital, Tinubu highlighted decent work as central to sustainable transitions, citing Nigeria’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which promotes digital literacy, vocational training, and youth entrepreneurship.
Regarding AI, he called for global partnerships to ensure the technology empowers rather than excludes:
“Nigeria supports the creation of global ethical standards for AI that uphold safety, transparency, and equity… We must ensure that AI becomes a tool of empowerment, not exclusion; of job creation, not displacement.”
Tinubu also addressed the global financial system, urging reforms to support developing nations and tackle recurring debt crises. He noted that existing frameworks are outdated and fail to meet the needs of the Global South, stressing the need for debt sustainability and responsible utilisation of critical minerals as part of an inclusive development agenda.
He concluded by linking critical minerals, AI, and decent work to a shared global responsibility: “The G20 must advance policies that drive sustainable growth, promote financial inclusion, and confront emerging risks, ensuring Africa becomes a centre of value creation and innovation not just a supplier of raw materials.”
