The seventh edition of the Professor Alexander Adum Kwapong Lecture Series, hosted by UNU-INRA in Accra on November 6, brought together policymakers, researchers and industry voices with a single question: what should Africa make of its vast store of critical minerals?
Image source:UNU-INRA
This year’s theme — “Critical minerals: A new scramble or opportunity for green industrialisation in Africa” — took the discussion beyond geology and into the realm of strategy.
Delivering the keynote, Sheila Khama, a Non-Executive Director working with companies listed across FTSE, Nasdaq, Saudi Stock Exchange and AXS, challenged the continent to shift its long-held perspective on raw materials.
She walked the audience through the importance of cobalt, lithium, graphite, platinum and bauxite in shaping everything from electric vehicles to renewable energy systems and digital technologies. These minerals, she argued, are not just export products — they are essential pieces of Africa’s own green industrial puzzle. She cautioned that Africa’s mineral narrative could go “in one of two ways: as a new scramble defined by external interests or as a new renaissance driven by African innovation, ownership, and green transformation.”
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Partnerships that shape outcomes
A different tone came from Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, who reflected on how the institution’s partnership with UNU-INRA has evolved. She described the relationship as “a model of how academic and policy institutions can work hand in hand to address the continent’s most pressing challenges.”
Her focus was on the practical side: joint projects, research collaborations, mentorship programmes and training efforts that help bridge the gap between policy formation and scientific evidence, whether in climate resilience, sustainable industrialisation or natural resource governance.
Data as a strategic tool
Representing the UN system in Ghana, Resident Coordinator H.E. Zia Choudhury highlighted a different tool altogether — information. He drew attention to UNU-INRA’s Critical Minerals Information and Knowledge Hub (C-MINK), a platform created to support policymakers with stronger data and credible analysis.
The hub supports frameworks like the African Mining Vision and the AfCFTA. Its environmental and social safeguards ensure that mineral development supports inclusive and sustainable growth aligned with the 2030 Agenda.
From ideas to action
In her closing remarks, Dr Fatima Denton, Director of UNU-INRA said, “Managed wisely, Africa’s critical minerals can be critical for the planet, critical for prosperity, and critical for the promise of a just transition.”
Also read: Guinea’s red earth rolls on: Bauxite exports race toward 200MT in 2026
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