MTN Chairman: Africa Risks Losing Critical Minerals Leverage Through Fragmented Deals

• Says continent’s mineral wealth, young population biggest global bargaining chips

Sunday Ehigiator

Africa risks losing its strategic advantage in the global economy by allowing individual countries to negotiate separate deals for critical minerals instead of bargaining collectively as a bloc, MTN Group Chairman, Mcebisi Jonas, has warned.

Jonas gave the warning while addressing Fellows of the fifth cohort of the MTN Media Innovation Programme (MTN MIP), who are currently on a study trip to South Africa, during a session focused on Africa’s geopolitical position amid intensifying global competition for strategic resources.

According to him, Africa possesses two major sources of leverage in the global economy: its vast deposits of critical minerals and its rapidly growing youthful population.

“We have the highest concentration of minerals in the world, particularly critical minerals, and we have a very growing young population,” Jonas said.

He noted that the increasing global demand for electric vehicles, battery manufacturing, semiconductors and renewable energy infrastructure had made Africa’s critical mineral resources strategically important, as major economies seek to secure long-term access to the minerals required to power their industries and energy transitions.

Jonas, however, cautioned that the continent’s mineral wealth alone would not guarantee economic benefits for Africans, stressing that how the resources are negotiated and managed would determine the extent of Africa’s influence.

“Negotiating individually could weaken Africa’s influence and bargaining power,” he said.

He argued that countries negotiating separately risk surrendering the collective advantage that Africa should be using to secure better economic and strategic outcomes from its natural resources.

“If we can use that collective strength effectively, it will take us somewhere,” he added.

The MTN chairman’s position challenges the long-standing pattern of critical minerals agreements being negotiated largely on a country-by-country basis across the continent.

With global powers increasingly competing for access to minerals critical to the production of advanced technologies and clean-energy infrastructure, Jonas suggested that Africa needed to rethink how it approaches such agreements if it is to maximise the value of its resources.

Beyond minerals, he identified Africa’s youthful population as another significant strategic asset, arguing that the continent’s demographic strength could play an increasingly important role in determining its position in the global economy.

Jonas also linked the fortunes of MTN Group to the broader economic prosperity of the continent, stressing that the company’s long-term success was inseparable from Africa’s development.

“MTN cannot thrive if Africa doesn’t thrive,” he said.

His comments come amid growing international interest in Africa’s strategic minerals, with the continent possessing significant deposits of resources considered essential to the global energy transition and the development of emerging technologies.

Jonas therefore called for greater continental coordination, suggesting that a collective approach could strengthen Africa’s negotiating position and enable its countries to derive greater economic and strategic benefits from resources that are becoming increasingly indispensable to the global economy.