Nigeria Pushes Continental Raw Materials Integration To Boost Value Addition

The federal government has ramped up efforts for a continental raw materials integration to promote value addition, industrialization and intra-African development by harnessing the vast resources of the region.

The director general of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, disclosed this in a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday ahead of the Africa’s Raw Materials Summit (ARMS) scheduled for October 19–20, 2026, in Abuja.

The summit, with the theme “From African Feedstock to African Factory,” will bring together about 1,000 delegates from across Africa and global industry partners, with more than 25 countries already expressing interest in participating.

Ike-Muonso said Nigeria alone has more than $582.4 billion worth of documented non-renewable natural resources beneath its soil, stressing that Nigeria is leading Africa to champion the move to go beyond exporting raw commodities and importing finished products.

He decried that while Africa for years operated an extractive economic model in which its soils, mines and forests generated enormous wealth, the continent remained trapped in low-value addition, export of unprocessed commodities and dependence on imported finished goods.

“The era of seeing Africa as a pit for mineral extraction is over. The future belongs to resource-based manufacturing,” the RMRDC boss said.

He noted that ARMS 2026 represents an opportunity to bring into line policy, capital, technology and political will toward ensuring that raw materials extracted from African soil are increasingly processed on the continent and serve its people.

He pointed out that the summit would focus on five major pillars: logistics infrastructure, policy and the 30 per cent value-addition mandate, circular economy and waste industrialisation, regional value-chain integration, and technology commercialisation and capital linkage.

According to him, the policy could generate more than 1.2 million skilled jobs within five years, conserve foreign exchange, strengthen national reserves and increase manufacturing’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.

Speaking further on the proposed 30% bill before Nigeria’s National Assembly, Ike Mounso said “By moving from convenience to law, it is no longer about political will or what you think, but about what the law says you must add value.”

He described the proposed 30 per cent mandatory value-addition legislation as a critical instrument for Nigeria’s industrial transformation, stressing that the bill, which was returned to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with proposed amendments, had undergone the required amendments and was expected to return to the President for assent.

He noted that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provided an opportunity for African countries to establish cross-border supply chains and ensure that the concept of “Made in Africa” begins with “Source in Africa.”

He added that mandatory value addition would ensure that every extraction contributes to domestic industrial growth.

“For as long as we dig deeper beneath the Nigerian soil or beneath the African soil, everything that comes out of it will at least have a value transformation of up to 30 per cent,” he said.

The erudite scholar also highlighted reforms taking place in the council since he assumed office, including the development of the Nigerian Integrated Information and Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISRA).

He described NISRA as a digital repository designed to provide information on raw-material deposits, feedstock specifications, production outputs and industrial absorption rates to investors and policymakers.

According to him the Council had undergone extensive digitalisation and received data-controller and processor certification from the Nigerian Data Protection Commission.

Other initiatives, according to him, include the council’s attainment of ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System certification, establishment of RMRDC 360, the restructuring of the Journal of Raw Materials Research (JOMA) into an open-access digital publication, and the launch of the RMRDC Training School for MSMEs, miners and processors.

He also stressed the importance of linking research institutions and innovators with equity investors, development finance institutions and industrial off-takers to accelerate technology commercialisation.

The head of the African Raw Materials Summit Secretariat and chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Rachel Kofso, said ARMS was conceived to change the continent’s approach to raw-material development and industrialisation.

She said the summit was therefore designed to encourage African countries to integrate their economies and process raw materials within the continent.

Earlier in her opening remarks, the Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications, Directorate, RMRDC, Chinyere Nnamdi Anum, said the summit would bring together industrialists, researchers, academics, government officials, and other stakeholders to develop strategies to add value to raw materials before they leave the continent.