By Umar Salihu Adamu
Students of tertiary institutions who were on an excursion to the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) Niger State coordinating office in Minna, have been encouraged to embrace entrepreneurship by making good use of knowledge on transforming raw materials available in their community into finished products by embracing value-addition, instead of the over dependency on white-collar jobs.
The RMRDC State Coordinator, Mr. Yakubu Mohammed while receiving the team of 400-Level Biological Science Department students of the Ahmadu Bello University-affiliated program at the Niger State College of Education (COE) Minna encouraged them to become the next generation entrepreneurs.
Mr. Yakubu stated “We want to inspire students to become job creators, rather than job seekers, by exposing them to the resources and support available at RMRDC, we hope to educate them to build ideas into successful businesses”
During the excursion, the students were taken on a tour of the RMRDC facilities including the Resource and Information Center. They had the opportunity to interact with RMRDC officials learning about the challenges and success of starting and running a business. They were further shown a demonstration of the raw materials and their respective finished products displayed in the center as classified in their different categories of Agro and Mineral raw materials.
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Mr Yakubu explained that it is in line with the mandate of the Council to promote ideas on the development and optimal utilization of the nation’s natural resources through raw material inputs for resource-based manufacturing in micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises.
He emphasized that the raw materials and finished products on display at the resource center are some of the abundant natural resources available in Nigeria that have been enhanced. He urged the students to make good use of the knowledge gained during the excursion to become entrepreneurs through raw materials value addition upon graduation.
One of the students, Mr. Mamman Abdullahi Mohammed, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, appreciated the RMRDC for creating such an avenue for students, not just investors and stakeholders, to learn about the various raw materials and their availability in Nigeria.
He said that they were impressed and motivated by what they saw and learned at the resource center and pledged commitment to engage in the production of various products using available raw materials richly available around them, which will serve as a source of income and employment, as well as contribute to boosting the Nigerian economy.
