The Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso, has said Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy hinges on local processing of raw materials, industrialisation and policies that promote domestic manufacturing.

He said the Federal Government’s push for value addition would help create jobs, attract foreign investment and reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported finished products, while ensuring that more economic benefits from the country’s natural resources remained within its borders.

Ike-Muonso stated this yesterday in Abuja when the leadership of the Tinubu Support Group (TSG), led by its Director-General, Dr Umar Tanko Yakassai, visited the council to assess its achievements and challenges under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The RMRDC boss said his management team had aligned the council’s programmes with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its emphasis on economic diversification, local production, industrial development and employment generation.

He argued that Nigeria could not achieve sustainable prosperity by continuing to export raw materials in their unprocessed forms and importing finished products manufactured from those same resources at higher prices.

A major initiative being pursued by the council is a proposed law requiring raw materials produced in Nigeria to undergo at least 30 per cent value addition before export.

Ike-Muonso said the measure would encourage investors to establish processing plants and manufacturing facilities in the country, instead of simply extracting natural resources for export without creating sufficient local economic benefits.

According to him, the proposed legislation would stimulate industrial growth, strengthen small and medium-scale enterprises, attract foreign direct investment and expand employment opportunities.

He added that domestic processing would help conserve foreign exchange by reducing the need to import products that could be manufactured locally.

The RMRDC director-general disclosed that the proposed legislation had been submitted to President Tinubu, who directed the Ministry of Justice to review and strengthen the draft before it returned to the National Assembly.

He expressed optimism that the policy would help Nigeria move away from an economy heavily dependent on the export of primary commodities towards one driven by manufacturing, technology and value-added products.

“Value addition is what makes any country like any other country in the developed world. The only difference between us and the developed world is the extent to which we add value to the resources available to us,” he said.

Ike-Muonso explained that agricultural processing offered significant opportunities for job creation, particularly in rural communities, where locally available resources could support small businesses and manufacturing enterprises.

He said the council was already training women and other groups across the country in mushroom production and other value-addition activities to develop raw-material value chains from the grassroots.

He noted that processing agricultural produce into finished goods would enable communities to earn more from their resources while creating opportunities for farmers, processors, distributors and other participants in the production chain.

The RMRDC chief also identified access to reliable information on raw materials as essential to attracting investors and supporting evidence-based industrial planning.

He said the council had developed the Nigerian Information System for Statistical Information on Raw Materials and Products to provide information on the location, producers, suppliers and value chains of the country’s raw materials.

According to him, the platform is designed to help investors, manufacturers and policymakers identify available resources, assess business opportunities and make informed economic decisions.

Ike-Muonso further disclosed that the council had secured ISO 9001:2015 certification following an international assessment of its systems, describing the achievement as evidence of its commitment to institutional efficiency, transparency and quality management.

Earlier, Yakassai said the TSG delegation visited the council to obtain firsthand information about its achievements and challenges to enable members of the support network to communicate accurate information about the administration’s policies and programmes to Nigerians.

He said the group played a significant role in mobilising support for Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election, when it coordinated more than 5,000 support groups across the country.

According to him, thousands of additional groups have registered with the platform since the election, expanding its network and capacity to engage Nigerians on government policies.

Yakassai said the group’s engagements with government agencies were intended to provide members with a clearer understanding of the administration’s performance and the challenges confronting public institutions.

He commended Ike-Muonso and his management team for their efforts to promote local raw-material development, research, value addition and industrialisation.

The TSG director-general maintained that governance was a continuous process, arguing that no administration could resolve all the country’s problems at once.

He stressed the need for successive governments to consolidate existing achievements while addressing emerging economic and developmental challenges.

The RMRDC’s push for mandatory local value addition forms part of broader efforts to harness Nigeria’s mineral and agricultural resources for industrial development. The council believes that expanding domestic processing and manufacturing will help create jobs, attract investment, and strengthen the productive base of the economy.