By Oluwaseyi Otitoju and Kelechi Obassi
The Raw Materials Research and development Council (RMRDC) held the awards ceremony for the 2nd edition of its Raw Materials Innovation Challenge RMIC recently at the Councils headquarters in Abuja. The RMIC is a flagship initiative designed to get the staff of the Council actively involved in providing solutions towards the transformation of the nation’s raw materials through home grown technological solutions.
Speaking at the event, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Professor Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso declared that, “The Raw Materials Innovation Challenge, RMIC, is a reflection of our collective commitment to innovation, creativity and the strategic development of Nigeria’s raw materials sector.” The RMIC which was launched in the recent past by the DG, is a clear indication of his efforts to actively involve the staff of the Council in fulfilling the mandates of the Council. This 2nd edition of the RMIC awards ceremony was held at the prestigious Event centre of the Council’s headquarters in Abuja, with contestants cutting across the 36 state Coordinating offices and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Prof. Ike-Muonso also assured the staff of the Council that he is committed to ensuring that better planning, timely budgetary provisions and a much-improved coordination is put in place to keep supporting the RMIC. He especially commended the 3rd placed team in the 1st edition of the RMIC for placing 1st in the 2nd edition of the challenge. He said their achievement attests to the fact that any member of staff of the Council can rise to the place of prominence through hard work and determination evidenced by innovative ideas worth promoting. The 1st placed team in this edition consists of Okoye Olisaemeka, Obi-Onah Njuare Ray, Idowu Emmanuel Tayo and Haydar Hamu Aliyu.
The DG congratulated all the winners and the runners-up for submitting ideas which stood out and earned them various positions in the challenge. He encouraged them to continue refining their ideas until they achieve practical application and value creation in line with the mandates of the Council. He also presented the awards of cash prizes for the winners of the 1st and 2nd editions of the Raw Materials Innovation Challenge, and he handed over their cheque to them. The sum of N1,000,000.00 was handed over to the third-place winners in both editions respectively, the second runners-up won the sum of N 2,000,000.00 respectively from both editions while the 1st placed winners from both editions won the sum of N 3,000,000.00 respectively.
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The Director of the Agricultural and Agro-Allied department (AAD) Dr. Sab Eberiekwe stated that that “The second edition demonstrates learning, resilience, and growing maturity among the innovators who are drawn from the Council’s staff as well as a demonstration of positive outcomes of this initiative.”
He also expressed his satisfaction at the integrity and transparency the members of the RMIC committee had shown in their roles in identifying the winners, both in the first edition and also in this second edition. He said, “I must quickly applaud the members of the RMIC organizing committee, who worked tirelessly and diligently to deliver this second edition despite evident financial constraints their professionalism and sense of responsibility have ensured that the process remains orderly, credible and focused on merit”. He also expressed the view that these innovative ideas should be adopted as high priority projects by the relevant departments of the Council, so they are pursued to the logical conclusion of being the Council’s answers for adding value to the nation’s raw materials.
The Chairperson of the RMIC, Dr. (Mrs.) Fausta Ogbuefi-Chima in her opening remarks at the award ceremony said that, “The RMIC is a flagship initiative of the Council designed to stimulate the creativity of its staff, promote problem solving, and deepen innovation driven utilization of Nigeria’s raw materials.” She had also observed that while the numbers of the entries had noticeably dropped form 100 entries in the first edition to 78 in the second edition of the RMIC, due to obvious funding challenges, which she said had been properly dealt with, the quality of the entries in this edition were remarkably commendable.
The third edition of the RMIC is scheduled to hold in the first quarter of 2026.
