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The Minister of Solid Minarals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, has received the instrument of power as Chairman of African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG).
He received document and gavel as symbol of AMSG authority just before drawing the curtain close at the 5th African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS) 2026, with the theme “One Africa, One Resource Vision."
The Secretary-General of AMSG, Moses Michael Engadu, who handed over the symbol of office said "It is my distinct honor and privilege to hand over his declaration as a commitment that will be reminding him every day, every minute, every hour the mission and the journey that he is making and the leadership is giving not just for Africa but for the people of Africa and the rest of the world.
"So this is the declaration that the minister said, committing that he will not only represent Nigeria, but lead the continent to prosperity. We entrust you, the African Minerals Strategy Group, your leadership to guide us with a symbol of the Gavel. Congratulations once again,
"Honorable Minister Excellency, as Chairman, you will be guiding us with a charter which is our legal instrument that will shape Africa's mineral future."
On President Bola Tinubu, he said "Finally, your Federal Republic of Nigeria was elected. The President received a certificate of election on investiture, but the Nigerian people did not see it, so it is our honor to present to you the certificate confirming the Federal Republic of Nigeria elected as the first chairperson of the African Minerals Strategy Group."
Closing the Summit on Thursday, Dr. Alake charged Africa countries to rise up and stop exportation of prosperity and importation of poverty into the continent.
African countries, he said, should not to be discouraged by challenges, but should face the challenges towards achieving their goals.
"We want to stop the exportation of prosperity and the importation of poverty. Like I said yesterday, that is the panel of all our discussions, all other ideas, the technicalities expounded, and the various theories propounded are all geared towards achieving this singular objective of advancing the course of solid minerals, and ensuring the efficiency of exploration, the efficacy of extraction, and of course the judicious utilization of the accruing resources and revenues flowing in from this sector for the benefit of our various peoples of Africa, and for future generations, and I always say that every epoch has its mandates.
"Our own epoch, which is our generation has a mandate to steer Africa away from the old steel model of unequal transactional exchange into one that is mutually beneficial to all of us in Africa. We want to aspire to something, and some of us will bring up the challenges, the obstacles, and the president will say, you know, there is nothing, no human endeavor or no goals that you set for yourself without attendance challenges."
According to him, challenges are supposed to be surmounted, resolved and attain path of progress to the objective.
"Without challenges, actually life will be boring. So, where there are no challenges, you must be careful. There could be boobytraps. but when there are challenges, challenges are supposed not to discourage you, but to reinvigorate you, to charge your adrenaline into wanting to overcome those challenges."
Stressing that when the challenges are overcomed, he noted that the victory is sweeter,
"We have to work assiduously to achieve this objective, and the challenges we are facing individually and collectively are meant to drive us to compel us to challenge us to achieving results for this generation, and for the future generation of Africans.
"For us in Africa, the challenges are multifarious and multifaceted, but for us to keep moaning and groaning about these challenges, without real solutions, and without practicalizing those solutions, we will never move from this old model that we want to shift away from.
"So this platform of AFNIS 2026 has afforded us another opportunity to really clear out some of these challenges and proper solutions to these challenges." the Minister stated
He also witnessed strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing between Africans for Africa (AFA) Initiative and Steron Mining Company Limited towards
accelerating the development of lithium and rare earth mineral in Nigeria
Steron, from the MoU, will benefit from dedicated capital support and specialised technical optimisation designed to ensure the project meets international standards for bankability, environmental sustainability and operational excellence.
During panel discussion earlier on Oil & Gas and Base-Load Power anchored by Energy Law, Policy and Transactions Consultant, Osefan Anegbe, participants urged Africa countries to bundle demand in order to break gas gridlock.
It was pointed out that the continent has gas reserves but lacks coordinated off-takers to make supply deals viable.
A panelist said “The resource is there, obviously. But pricing, local infrastructure, and even demand are roadblocks. There’s potential demand and there’s actual demand.
Panelists pointed out that the takeaway for African policymakers: infrastructure and pricing reforms matter, but the missing link may be demand aggregation.
Without it, they said gas stays in the ground and industrialization stalled.