Nigeria’s Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) is preparing to host more than 1,800 delegates from all 54 African countries and global industrial partners at the second African Raw Materials Summit (ARMS 2026), scheduled for the 19th–20th of October in Abuja.The summit, held under the theme “From African Feedstock to African Factories”, is designed to tackle the structural barriers that prevent African raw materials from reaching African manufacturing plants. RMRDC Director-General Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso said the event will focus on five pillars: logistics, policy, circular sustainability, continental integration and capital-backed innovation.
ARMS 2026 aims to shift Africa’s role in global value chains from a supplier of unprocessed commodities to a hub for local processing and industrialisation. Ike-Muonso noted that despite vast mineral and agricultural endowments, much of Africa’s feedstock continues to be exported in raw form, with finished products then imported at higher cost. The summit seeks to connect governments, businesses, researchers, investors and manufacturers to build competitive, locally anchored value chains. The event will bring together policymakers, financiers, researchers, manufacturers, investors and industrial leaders to discuss how Africa can process more of its raw materials locally. Key objectives include promoting local value addition, encouraging technology transfer and industrial innovation, strengthening regional and cross-border raw-material value chains, and supporting sustainable extraction and environmentally responsible production.
Organisers expect attendance at ARMS 2026 to be almost double that of the inaugural summit in 2025, reflecting growing interest in Africa’s raw materials agenda. The first edition helped put the issue of local processing and value addition firmly on the continental industrial policy agenda, and the second is intended to convert dialogue into actionable partnerships and investment commitments. Ike-Muonso said the summit would generate concrete outcomes, including policy recommendations, business linkages and project pipelines that can be taken forward by governments, development finance institutions and the private sector. The goal is to ensure that Africa’s documented natural resource wealth—estimated at more than $582 billion in Nigeria alone—translates into jobs, industrial capacity and export earnings rather than remaining largely untapped.
ARMS 2026 aligns with broader continental frameworks such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and national industrialisation strategies that prioritise local content and value addition. By focusing on logistics, policy coherence and access to finance, the summit seeks to address some of the most persistent bottlenecks that have slowed the development of integrated raw-material value chains across the continent. The emphasis on circular sustainability also reflects growing attention to environmental and social governance in the extractive and processing sectors. Organisers say the event will highlight best practices in responsible mining, agro-processing and waste-to-value initiatives, positioning sustainability as a core element of Africa’s industrial competitiveness.
For African leaders and investors, ARMS 2026 represents an opportunity to reframe the continent’s raw materials narrative. If successful, the summit could help catalyse new joint ventures, processing facilities and regional supply chains that keep more value on the continent, create jobs and reduce dependence on imported finished goods.
As Abuja prepares to welcome delegates from across Africa and beyond, the test will be whether the connections made in October translate into tangible projects, policy reforms and financing arrangements that move Africa closer to its ambition of turning feedstock into factories.
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