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By Obot Festus
The National Assembly has pledged to support efforts by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) to increase value addition to Nigeria’s raw materials from 25 to 60 per cent within the next 10 years. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Innovation, Science and Technology, Distinguished Senator Aminu Iya Abbas stated this at the maiden RMRDC Programme Presentation and Dialogue Session in Abuja.
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The Senate Committee Chairman while commending RMRDC for its laudable achievements in the area of raw materials development and utilization, assured participants at the event that the National Assembly will be willing to support any bill that will ensure that a certain percentage of Nigeria’s raw materials are processed before export.
Senator Iya Abbas decried the unhealthy situation where Nigeria’s raw material resources are exported in their raw form without processing noting that such practices have led to exporting Nigeria’s jobs to other countries.
In a related development, the Director General of RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso emphasized that for Nigeria to become an industrialized nation, it must discourage the export of local resources in their raw form. He pointed out that these practices are negatively impacting the country’s foreign exchange earnings as well as reducing manufacturing capacity of industries. According to Prof. Ike-Muonso, “when we export our raw materials in their natural form and then import massive amounts of manufactured products on the back of those same raw materials, the country is losing foreign exchange, losing manufacturing capacity and losing on jobs that we should ordinarily have created for our teeming youth population”, he stated.
Earlier in his keynote address, former Director General of Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and Country Director DAI, Dr Joe Abah stressed that there was a dire need for RMRDC to sustain its drive for increased value addition to Nigeria’s vast raw material resources. According to Dr Abah, “the strategic development, management and conversion of our raw materials into finished products is crucial if Nigeria is to unlock its vast potential and secure sustainable prosperity for its citizens”.
Dr Abah maintained that, “with 44 solid minerals identified nationwide, including substantial iron ore, lead, zinc, and limestone reserves, Nigeria has the natural resources to drive industrialization on a large scale. The country’s rich agricultural raw materials like cocoa, cotton, and palm oil also play a vital role in global trade. Current global efforts at energy transition and moves to harness greener energy that is less damaging to the environment make our mineral and energy resources even more critical today”, Dr Abah stated.
The RMRDC DG assured participants that as a Council, RMRDC’s plan to change the narrative is to work with relevant and strategic stakeholders to achieve at least 60% value addition to Nigeria’s raw materials before they are exported. He noted that this will go a long way to bolster manufacturing activities and invariably create massive job opportunities for Nigerians.
He commended the African Development Bank (AfDB) for taking the front row to in this regard and called on other development partners to lend their support to RMRDC in this laudable program.
