The West Africa Journalists for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (WAJESHA) joined stakeholders and researchers at a thought-provoking seminar titled “Critical Minerals — A New ‘Scramble’ or Opportunity for Green Industrialisation in Africa” held at the West African Genetic Medicine Centre, University of Ghana.
WAJESHA was represented by Dr. Esther Nuekie Annang, the organisation’s Health Director, who participated in discussions exploring how Africa can harness its rich deposits of critical minerals to advance sustainable development and green industrialisation.
The seminar, chaired by Prof. Alexander Adum Kwapong, featured keynote speaker Sheila Khama of the United Nations University – Institute of Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA). Khama highlighted that Africa possesses abundant reserves of cobalt, lithium, manganese, and other minerals essential for clean energy technologies and modern manufacturing.
However, she warned that the continent’s limited industrial base and lack of value-addition capacity continue to undermine its economic transformation. “There’s no opportunity for transformation in Africa because there’s no country consuming these minerals,” Khama said. “We don’t have the industries for such consumption. Africa is a supplier, and that’s because we didn’t prepare the region.”
Khama described the emerging global race for Africa’s minerals as a “new scramble,” likening it to the colonial-era Berlin Conference. She stressed that beyond the physical scramble lies a “mental scramble” — Africa’s insufficient understanding of its own resources and their potential for domestic growth.
Discussions also touched on environmental risks, including seabed mining and its potential harm to marine ecosystems, as well as the urgent need for sustainable extraction policies and regional cooperation.
Participants identified several strategic priorities: promoting value addition, advancing clean-energy transitions, and strengthening education and awareness to empower local communities.
Echoing the call for unity and purposeful leadership, one participant noted, “We must cut down the politics of parties and focus on the politics of nations.”
Representing WAJESHA, Dr. Annang reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to advocating for responsible natural-resource governance and amplifying African voices in the global discourse on sustainability.
