Nigeria To Host Inaugural Africa Raw Materials Summit

The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials & Research Development Council (RMRDC), Professor Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso has unveiled plans by the council under his leadership to host the first edition of Africa Raw Materials Summit.

Ike-Muonso who made the disclosure during a delegation visit to Psaltry International Company Limited, the first cassava processing company in Africa also informed that the three-day summit which is slated to hold in Abuja between the 20th to the 22nd of May, 2025 will feature a pre-event in the form of the First National Conference of Women in Raw Materials Value Addition in Nigeria scheduled for April 23rd to 24th 2025 also holding in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

This is as the council has increased momentum towards the planned hosting of the maiden Africa Raw Materials Summit with visitations to stakeholders and indigenous firms operating in country.

Represented by a high-powered delegation led by Professor Benard Odoh who is the Chairman, Africa Raw Materials Summit, Mrs. Racheal Kotso, Director, Planning, Research & Statistics Department and Co-chair, Africa Raw Materials Summit.

The team which also had Mr. Suraj Lawal, Director, Investment Promotion Department and Dr. Brenda Max-Nduaguibe, Technical Assistant to Director General on Strategic Partnerships accompanied by Mr. Owolabi Yinka, Oyo State Coordinator of RMRDC disclosed the plans when they visited Psaltry International Company Ltd located in Alayide Village, Ado-Awaye, Iseyin LGA, Oyo State and founded by Mrs. Oluyemisi Iranloye

Ike-Muonso described this as the first step by the RMRDC since it commenced stakeholder engagements to some indigenous industrialists identified as champions of Raw Materials value addition ahead of the planned summit in May this year.

She also described Psaltry International Company Ltd as a company of many firsts, remarking that it is the first Cassava processing company in Africa to process sorbitol from cassava and the second in the world.

“The company has excelled in value addition of cassava to produce derivatives which include high-quality cassava flour, food grade cassava starch, methanol, cassava glucose syrup and sorbitol which serves confectionaries, the pharmaceutical, personal care, food and beverage sectors”, Odoh, who kee the delegation lauded.

Odoh, while also conveying the high regards of the DG, Professor Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, thanked Mrs.Oluyemisi Iranloye for her warm reception of the team.

He extolled her for exhibiting leadership and excellence by establishing the leading Agro processing Cassava company that is 100% indigenous, with a high employee rate of young people between the ages of 18 years to 35 years occupying 85% leadership positions.

“May I on behalf of the DG on whose behest we are paying this visit and indeed the entire council, highly commend you , Mrs. Iranloye for epitomising the mandate of RMRDC by not only adding value to Cassava but to young people, women and farmers in the community”, Odoh posited.

He also used the opportunity of the visit to convey the DG’s invitation to Mrs. Iranloye seeking her participation in the Maiden Africa Raw Materials Summit coming up in Abuja on May 20-22, 2025 and the pre-event of the First National Conference of Women in Raw Materials Value Addition in Nigeria scheduled for April 23 – 24th, 2025 in Abuja.

The delegation further disclosed that the visit was part of the RMRDC activities as it has fully commenced stakeholder engagements to some indigenous industrialists identified as champions of Raw Materials value addition ahead of the African summit.

Responding, Mrs. Oluyemisi Iranloye, the founder and CEO, Psaltry International Company Ltd thanked Prof. Ike-Muonso for sending a high-level delegation to invite her to the Maiden Africa Raw Materials Summit and the pre-event of the First National Conference of Women in Raw Materials Value Addition.

She confirmed her attendance for the events and narrated the background story of how the Company was founded in 2005 and how it started operations with only seventeen farmers.

She stated that in 20 years, Psaltry International has supported over 25,000 farmers and is poised to support another 15,000 female farmers.

The highpoint of the visit was the conduct of the delegation round the factory and to the newly installed 1.6MW Solar farm which provides green energy for the factory operations.