By Oyajimi K. Monsuru & Tochukwu Ogbalu
In a move to strengthen ongoing collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the Ogun State Coordinator of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Mr. Rabiu Basiru Olawale, paid a working visit to his NEPC counterpart, Mrs. Olajumoke Abolaji, at the NEPC office in the New Secretariat Complex, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.
The visit aimed to seek NEPC’s support for the forthcoming Investors Forum on Cassava Value Chain Development in Ogun State, and to create awareness about the upcoming Raw Materials Summit scheduled to hold in Abuja from May 20–22, 2025.
During the meeting, Mr. Rabiu stressed the importance of collaboration between the two agencies to harness the agricultural potential of Ogun State. Despite its vast arable land and agricultural resources, he noted that many of the state’s agro-raw materials remain underutilized due to limited coordination among researchers, government agencies, and private sector stakeholders.
He highlighted that the Director General and CEO of RMRDC, Professor Nnannyelugo Ike-Martin, had approved the Cassava Investors Forum as part of the Council’s efforts to close this information gap and connect farmers with industrial raw material users. Mr. Rabiu expressed optimism that the forum would bring about significant change in the cassava value chain by engaging stakeholders including equipment fabricators, researchers, and key government agencies.
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He also revealed that he had met with various stakeholders ahead of the event, including representatives from the Cassava Marketers and Processors Group of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Ogun State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (OGUNCCIMA), Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP), and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
He lamented the economic loss from the continuous transport of raw cassava out of the state without value addition and called for strategic interventions to reverse this trend.
Mr. Rabiu also shared some of the Council’s recent achievements in the state, including the distribution of improved planting materials such as long staple cotton, cashew seedlings, kolanut, tomato seeds, walnut seedlings, and more, in collaboration with AFAN. These efforts aim to boost the use of local raw materials in industrial production.
In her response, Mrs. Olajumoke Abolaji thanked the RMRDC team for the visit and commended the Council’s initiatives to promote agro-industrial development in Ogun State and beyond. She expressed NEPC’s commitment to supporting and participating fully in the upcoming events.
Mr. Rabiu concluded by appreciating the warm reception from the NEPC team and reaffirmed RMRDC’s support for NEPC’s activities, while welcoming Mrs. Abolaji once again to the industrial hub of Nigeria.
