The Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has backed President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, arguing that continuity in industrial policies is necessary to transform Nigeria from a raw material exporter into a manufacturing powerhouse.

Ike-Muonso said a second term for Tinubu would help consolidate ongoing reforms, attract investment, create jobs and accelerate the establishment of processing plants and manufacturing clusters across the country.

He made the appeal on Monday in Abuja while delivering his welcome address at the second Africa Raw Materials Summit 2026, themed “From African Feedstock to African Factories.”

The RMRDC chief argued that major industrial projects, including battery-refining complexes and heavy manufacturing facilities, required sustained policy implementation to achieve their full potential.

He warned that policy uncertainty could undermine investments and delay Nigeria’s transition from exporting unprocessed commodities to manufacturing finished products.

“To solidify these gains and complete the transition from feedstock exporter to industrial power, we must sustain this momentum, maintain policy predictability, and support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visionary leadership for a consolidated second term to finish the job he so courageously started,” he said.

Ike-Muonso said Nigeria could no longer afford to export its natural resources without substantial local processing, noting that the practice deprived the country of employment opportunities, industrial expertise and wealth creation.

He identified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with access to a continental market of about 1.3 billion people, as a major opportunity for expanding manufacturing and intra-African trade.

However, he warned that the agreement would deliver limited benefits if African countries lacked the production capacity to compete with imported finished goods.

The RMRDC director-general identified the proposed 30 per cent Raw Materials Value Addition Bill as a key instrument for addressing the challenge.

He projected that the proposed framework could generate more than 1.2 million high-value jobs, attract foreign direct investment into industrial clusters and increase annual non-oil export earnings by more than $1.2 billion.

He also cited the Federal Government’s Nigeria First Policy, introduced in May 2025, and the Nigeria Industrial Policy 2025 as complementary initiatives to stimulate local production through public procurement, domestic sourcing and improved industrial competitiveness.

According to him, more than N644.9 billion was mobilised through the Bank of Industry in 2025, supporting the creation and retention of approximately 1.7 million direct and indirect jobs across key sectors.

He said the RMRDC was translating government policies and research into practical industrial applications through the development of processing technologies and equipment tailored to Nigeria’s raw materials.

The council, he added, had designed, fabricated and deployed pilot processing plants and industrial machinery for mineral beneficiation, lithium concentration, agricultural processing and chemical extraction.

Ike-Muonso also highlighted the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products, a platform designed to map raw material deposits, availability, processing capacity and manufacturing demand.

He said the system would connect resource owners, researchers, investors and manufacturers, while partnerships with international research institutions and domestic development finance institutions would support the commercialisation of locally developed technologies.

Ike-Muonso urged African governments, investors and research institutions to use the summit to secure concrete industrial agreements rather than limit their engagements to policy declarations.

He proposed a continental raw materials value-addition compact, an industrial investment pipeline, a shared raw materials intelligence platform and regional value chains supported by AfCFTA.

The summit also provided a platform for the Federal Government to push for legislation requiring a minimum of 30 per cent local processing and value addition to raw materials before export.

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Enoh, said the proposed legislation was aimed at ending the excessive export of unprocessed commodities and strengthening domestic manufacturing.

He urged stakeholders to support the passage of the bill, which he said would make local processing a requirement rather than leave the country dependent on exporting raw materials.

“For me, this subject is beyond a subject. It is like a summons to Nigerians and Africans to wake up the raw material giant that Africa is,” Enoh said.

He maintained that Africa possessed abundant natural resources but lacked sufficient industrial capacity to convert them into finished goods, thereby losing jobs, technical expertise and substantial economic value to other countries.

From lithium deposits in the Democratic Republic of Congo to cocoa production in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and copper deposits in Zambia, the minister said the continent had the resources to support large-scale industrial development.

He called on development partners to increase investments in processing facilities and manufacturing infrastructure, stressing that industrial policies should be assessed by measurable results, including factories established, investments secured, jobs created and locally manufactured products.

Enoh said the Federal Government was strengthening Nigeria’s industrial policy framework and would use periodic implementation reports to monitor progress and ensure that policy commitments translated into tangible economic outcomes.

The Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, Otunba Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, said Nigeria’s automotive industry could benefit significantly from policies encouraging local sourcing of components and materials.

He identified batteries, plastics, copper and other industrial inputs as materials that could support domestic vehicle production, particularly the emerging electric vehicle industry.

Osanipin called for stronger collaboration among universities, research institutions and private companies to commercialise research findings, noting that many innovations developed by Nigerian universities had failed to reach the market.

He stressed that access to raw materials alone would not guarantee industrial growth without appropriate standards, processing capacity and partnerships to turn research into commercially viable products.

Similarly, the Director-General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Prof. Olusegun Ige, called for stronger cooperation between the agency and the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development to identify mineral deposits and improve their processing and utilisation.

The Director-General of the Pan-African Alliance for Small and Medium Industries, Dr. Henry Emejeo, described local value addition as essential to Africa’s economic independence and industrial development.

He urged governments to prioritise mineral beneficiation, establish clear legal frameworks to discourage the export of unprocessed resources and strengthen intra-African trade.

The Minister of Mineral Resources of Sudan, Dr. Dayan Tahar, identified local processing and refining, reliable energy, improved market access and measures to tackle mineral smuggling as priorities for developing Africa’s mineral sector.

He also called for transparent investment procedures, better economic data and stronger cooperation among governments, universities, industries and regulatory authorities.

The summit attracted representatives of African governments, the Economic Community of West African States, development partners, civil society organisations, industry stakeholders and heads of ministries, departments and agencies.

Participants called for sustained political commitment, investment in processing infrastructure and stronger regional partnerships to transform Africa’s natural resource wealth into competitive industries, finished products and sustainable deployment opportunities.