The Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has urged Nigerians to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election, arguing that policy continuity is essential to accelerating industrialisation, attracting investments and creating jobs through local processing of the country’s natural resources.
He said sustained implementation of the Federal Government’s industrial policies would encourage the establishment of processing plants and manufacturing clusters, enabling Nigeria to shift from exporting raw commodities to producing finished goods.
Ike-Muonso made the call on Monday in Abuja while delivering his welcome address at the second Africa Raw Materials Summit 2026, themed “From African Feedstock to African Factories.”
He maintained that major industrial investments, including battery-refining complexes and heavy manufacturing facilities, required consistent government policies to deliver their full economic benefits.
According to him, frequent policy changes and uncertainty could discourage investors and slow Nigeria’s ambition to become a manufacturing hub rather than remain an exporter of unprocessed natural resources.
“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.
The RMRDC chief lamented that exporting raw materials without adequate local processing deprived Nigeria of employment opportunities, technical expertise and the additional wealth that domestic manufacturing could generate.
He identified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which offers access to a continental market of approximately 1.3 billion people, as a significant opportunity for African countries to expand manufacturing and strengthen trade among themselves.
However, he cautioned that the agreement would yield limited benefits if African countries lacked the industrial capacity to compete effectively with imported finished products.
Ike-Muonso identified the proposed 30 per cent Raw Materials Value Addition Bill as a critical policy instrument for promoting domestic processing and reducing dependence on raw material exports.
He projected that the proposed legislation could create 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.
The bill seeks to ensure that at least 30 per cent of primary processing and beneficiation of raw materials takes place in Nigeria before they are exported.
Also speaking at the summit, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Enoh, called for the passage of the proposed legislation, saying it would strengthen domestic manufacturing and enable Nigeria to retain more economic value from its natural resources.
Enoh joined government officials, industry leaders, development partners and other stakeholders at the summit to discuss strategies for expanding local processing and manufacturing across the continent.
He noted that despite Africa’s vast natural resource deposits, the continent lacked sufficient industrial capacity to convert them into finished products, resulting in the loss of jobs, technical expertise and economic value to other countries.
“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,” the minister said.
Citing lithium deposits in the Democratic Republic of Congo, cocoa production in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, and copper deposits in Zambia, Enoh said Africa possessed the resources needed to support large-scale industrial development.
He urged development partners to invest more in processing facilities and manufacturing infrastructure, stressing that the success of industrial policies should be assessed through measurable outcomes.
These, he said, should include the number of factories established, investments attracted, jobs created and locally manufactured products delivered to the market.
The minister added that the Federal Government was strengthening Nigeria’s industrial policy framework, with periodic implementation reports expected to track progress and ensure that policy commitments translated into measurable economic results.
Ike-Muonso also highlighted the Federal Government’s Nigeria First Policy, introduced in May 2025, and the Nigeria Industrial Policy 2025 as complementary initiatives designed to stimulate domestic production through public procurement, local sourcing and improved industrial competitiveness.
He disclosed that 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.
The RMRDC director-general said the council was also working to bridge the gap between government policies, research and industrial production by developing processing technologies and equipment suited to Nigeria’s raw materials and manufacturing requirements.
He said the council had designed, fabricated and deployed pilot processing plants and industrial machinery for mineral beneficiation, lithium concentration, agricultural processing and chemical extraction.
Ike-Muonso further highlighted the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products, a platform developed to provide information on raw material deposits, availability, processing capacity and manufacturing demand.
According to him, the system would connect resource owners, researchers, investors and manufacturers, while partnerships with international research institutions and domestic development finance institutions would facilitate the commercialisation of locally developed technologies.
The Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, Otunba Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, said Nigeria’s automotive industry stood to benefit from policies that encouraged the local sourcing of components and industrial materials.
He identified batteries, plastics, copper and other industrial inputs as materials that could support domestic vehicle production, particularly the emerging electric vehicle sector.
Osanipin called for closer 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 capable of transforming research into commercially viable products.
Similarly, the Director-General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Prof. Olusegun Ige, advocated 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 fundamental to Africa’s economic independence and industrial development.
He urged African 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 supply, improved market access and measures to tackle mineral smuggling as priorities for developing Africa’s mineral sector.
He also called for transparent investment procedures, improved economic data and stronger collaboration among governments, universities, industries and regulatory authorities.
In his closing remarks, 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 the AfCFTA.
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, increased investment in processing infrastructure and stronger regional partnerships to transform Africa’s natural resource wealth into competitive industries, finished products and sustainable employment opportunities.
