Abdul Samad Rabiu, founder and chairman of BUA Group, called for a decisive shift in Africa’s development strategy, urging governments, financiers and the private sector to move Africa from raw material extraction to large-scale industrial processing and value-added production.
Rabiu was speaking as the special guest of honor at the African Finance Corporation (AFC) Forum during Mining Indaba 2026. The forum brought together African leaders, policy makers, financiers and industry executives to discuss the future of mining, industrialization and real sector development on the continent.
The statement praised the AFC’s role in mobilizing long-term finance to Africa’s industrial sectors, and quoted Rabiu as saying that the agency’s leadership and recent positive S&P Global Ratings outlook underscores the importance of strong development finance institutions in shaping Africa’s growth trajectory.
Drawing on BUA Group’s experience, he detailed the company’s decision more than 16 years ago to move from importing cement to local production in Nigeria, despite the capital concentration and long establishment period associated with mining and heavy industry.
“At that time, Nigeria was importing cement even though we were rich in limestone,” Rabiu said.
He added: “We were spending more time chasing foreign exchange than selling cement. The real question was not whether the resources existed, but whether we had enough confidence to stop importing and start local production.”
He said today that BUA mines and processes about 40,000 tons of limestone every day and produces about 1 million tons of cement every month.
He said the change had helped Nigeria move from being a cement importer to a net exporter, saving billions of dollars in foreign exchange every year.
Mr. Rabiu stressed that this transformation would not have been possible without the patient long-term financing of DFI, especially AFC, which has supported BUA’s cement and industrial operations with over $400 million in funding.
He added that a significant portion of the facility has already been paid off, proving that well-structured African industrial projects are not only viable for development, but also commercially viable and recyclable.
Looking at the broader continental picture, Rabiou highlighted what he described as a tectonic paradox. Although Africa remains one of the world’s most resource-rich regions, it exports the majority of its minerals and agricultural products in raw or minimally processed form.
He said Africa supplies much of the world’s raw materials but captures only a fraction of the value created downstream, citing examples such as gold, cobalt, copper, iron ore, diamonds and cocoa.
“Africa is not lacking in resources,” he said, stressing that “what Africa lacks is throughput, industrial scale and disciplined execution.”
He explained that the same challenges extend beyond mining to agriculture, as Africa accounts for the majority of the world’s arable land but continues to import billions of dollars worth of food each year.
Mr. Rabiu called for concerted action between governments, DFIs and the private sector, and urged DFIs to scale up long-term financing for beneficiaries and industrial value chains.
He called on governments to adopt deliberate policies to encourage local processing and invest in power, transport and industrial infrastructure.
“Industrialization does not happen by chance,” he said, adding, “Countries that have industrialized have done so by design, not by chance. Africa must do the same.”
Rabiu said Africa’s opportunity lies in aligning private enterprise, patient capital and supportive policies to move the continent from extraction to transformation and from potential to shared prosperity.
