RMRDC Says 30% Value Addition Bill Can Create 1.2m Jobs in Five Years
By Victor Idajili
The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) says Nigeria could create over 1.2 million skilled jobs in five years if it enforces 30 percent value addition on raw materials before export.
The Director-General of the Council, Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, disclosed this on Tuesday at a press briefing in Abuja ahead of the 2nd Africa Raw Materials Summit.
The summit, themed “From African Feedstock to African Factories,” will hold on October 19 and 20 at the Abuja Continental Hotel.
According to Ike-Muonso, the proposed Raw Materials 30% Mandatory Value Addition Bill, which is awaiting presidential assent, is designed to end the export of unprocessed commodities and drive domestic processing and manufacturing.
He said the law, if signed, will conserve foreign exchange through import substitution, boost foreign reserves and increase manufacturing’s contribution to GDP.
The bill is a major pillar of this year’s Africa Raw Materials Summit, which is expected to host over 1,800 delegates from all 54 African countries and international industrial partners nearly double the attendance at the maiden edition in May 2025.
Ike-Muonso said the summit will focus on five pillars: logistics and infrastructure, value addition, circular economy, regional value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and technology commercialisation and access to capital.
He lamented that poor transport networks, weak cold-chain systems, bad rural roads and inadequate testing and certification facilities continue to block the movement of raw materials from farms and mines to factories.
To address this, he said the Council will bring together logistics operators, government agencies and standardisation bodies to develop reliable supply corridors for local industries.
He also announced that RMRDC has developed the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP) a digital platform that maps raw material deposits, specifications, output and industrial use.
The Council, he added, has secured ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management certification and has been certified by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission as a Data Controller and Processor of Major Importance.
Other milestones listed include an operational agreement with the Bank of Industry to support commercial-scale post-harvest processing and cut losses in onions, grains and industrial minerals, and a technology transfer partnership with the National Innovation Centre par Excellence (NICE) in Shanghai to commercialise local R&D.
The 2026 summit will feature ministerial policy dialogues, interactive panels, a raw materials and technology exhibition, industrial site visits and the African Raw Materials Industry Awards.
The maiden summit held in May 2025 with the theme “Shaping the Future of Africa’s Resource Landscape”_ and drew over 1,000 delegates.
Ike-Muonso said this year’s edition will deepen implementation of policies launched last year and push for resource-based industrialisation across the continent.
He urged the media to track the implementation of the 30 percent value addition policy.
“You are not spectators; you are partners in continental development,” he told journalists.
