The Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has said the third edition of the Africa Raw Materials Summit (ARMS) would work towards setting up a centralised continental database for raw processing and value addition that is accessible to investors and industrialists.

The 3rd edition of the summit would be held in Kenya, East Africa. Ike-Muonso explained that the decision to take the summit to Kenya was reached following what he described as the East Africa country participants’ dominance in the first and second editions of the summit.

“We are also hoping that the structures for advancing the case of raw material value addition across the continent can also be integrated so that countries in Africa can have institutions like the RMRDC in their own countries”, he said.

Speaking with newsmen during the conclusion of the ARMS 2026, Ike-Muonso said Nigeria is the only county that has an organisation, government-owned organisation in the continent that is fully dedicated to adding value to raw materials.

He said: “So, we hope that other countries can take cue and begin to set up structures like this within Africa. And that will make it easy for us to integrate in terms of the call to value-addition to raw materials from the continent”.

The Director-General stated that as soon as the Bill for 30 per cent, already passed by the National Assembly, is signed into law, Nigeria would push for such legislation to be replicated across countries in Africa.

Also speaking, a member of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Olalekan Afolabi, said ECOWAS supports the 30 per cent value-addition. “We – ECOWAS, have what you call the West African Common Industrial Policy, WACIP. It is an industrial policy that seeks to industrialise the region.

“The policy also highlights that there should be 30% industrialisation on raw materials before it is moved. That policy, of course, is in line with the WACIP that has been signed by the member states”.

Afolabi restated the community drive towards achieving common markets amongst the 12 economies of West Africa, ensuring that goods produce in one country move to other country with limited trade barriers.

He said ECOWAS has been doing that through initiatives to reduce regulatory and trade barriers within the region in the area of development of joint border post that facilitates movement of goods between two borders, reducing Customs clearance time and also putting in place non-tariff barrier measures like the trade and obstacle alert mechanism.

“So, ECOWAS continues, of course, to work with all its member states, including Nigeria and other member states, to promote economic development and ease the burdens that our MSMEs face in moving goods across the region”.