Godswill Akpabio, the President of the Senate, has said that Nigeria is taking a bold step towards industrial transformation with the passage of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council Amendment Bill, which mandates a minimum of 30 percent value addition before any raw material is exported.
Akpabio made the remarks while receiving members of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), led by its Director-General, Professor Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso, in his office.
A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, quoted the Senate President as saying, “We must not allow this to continue. If we now assist you by passing the Bill and the President signs it into law, Nigeria would have taken the step to ensure that whatever raw material is to be taken out of this country, must be given added value of at least, 30 percent.”
He added that failure to add value to locally sourced raw materials has continued to cost Nigeria jobs and technological advancement.
“If any of the values were to be added in Nigeria before exporting them, we would have had at least, a factory for those chains that would have also created jobs for our people outside what the farmers are doing. Technological shifts would have also come in terms of innovations,” he said.
Akpabio also bemoaned the irony of Nigeria producing cocoa only to import finished cocoa products at higher prices. “It is quite unfortunate that we produce cocoa in Nigeria but end up importing the same cocoa products from outside the country at a higher cost and without any input,” he said.
He praised the Senate and the bill’s sponsor, Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, for the legislative push.
“I must commend the Nigerian Senate through the Deputy Senate Whip for the initiative,” he said.
Akpabio stressed the need for national reorientation around value addition.
He said, “The most pathetic is the solid mineral sector, because we are not adding any value before we sell it. The result is you sell it at a very cheap rate and if you sum it up, you will see that development in Africa in 2025 is still in a primitive state. Poverty is really biting harder because of nothing but ignorance.”
He urged the Council to embark on widespread training and sensitisation, even at the secondary school level, to raise awareness about the value of Nigeria’s raw materials.
Earlier, the leader of delegation, Professor Ike-Muonso described the bill as a game-changer for Nigeria and Africa at large.
“We have seen the reforms like the Tax Administration Bills, but the one that concerns us most is the Bill to amend the Act of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, which is primarily to ensure that we do not export raw materials out of the country without it having at least, 30 percent of value added,” he said.
He added, “It is indeed Nigeria’s and Africa’s number one bill that will change the fortune of this country because Nigeria is a leader in the continent.”
The Director-General also sought the Senate President’s support for the bill’s full passage and invited him to attend the upcoming Africa Raw Materials Summit.
