The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) has called on African countries to leverage their natural resources and industrial capacities to build factories within the continent. This call was made by RMRDC's Director-General, Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, at a world press conference in Abuja ahead of the second Africa Raw Materials Summit (ARMS 2026). The summit aims to attract over 1,800 delegates from 54 African countries and global industrial partners.
According to Ike-Muonso, Africa's industrial transformation depends on moving beyond extracting natural resources to processing them into higher-value products before they leave the continent. He noted that Africa's biggest industrial opportunity may not lie in discovering more resources but in learning to process the ones it already has. The continent has remained trapped in an extractive economic model characterised by the "pit-to-port" paradigm, where valuable resources are exported with little or no processing.
Ike-Muonso disclosed that Nigeria alone has over $582.4 billion in documented non-renewable natural resources, while the 54 African countries collectively possess substantial deposits of critical transition minerals, agricultural raw materials, and industrial feedstock. He said the continued export of unprocessed resources has exposed African economies to external commodity price shocks, currency pressures, and unemployment, particularly among the continent's growing youth population.
The RMRDC boss said ARMS 2026 would seek to drive a continental shift from the traditional "pit-to-port" model to one where African resources feed African factories. The summit will focus on five key areas: logistics and infrastructure, policy and value addition, circular sustainability, continental integration, and technology commercialisation and capital linkage. Ike-Muonso identified logistics as a major challenge, citing poor transportation links, inadequate cold chains, and gaps in testing and certification infrastructure.
Ike-Muonso said the proposed 30 per cent mandatory value-addition mandate was central to Nigeria's industrialisation drive, arguing that natural resources should undergo domestic processing before export. The Raw Materials 30 per cent Mandatory Value Addition Bill has undergone amendments and is expected to return to the President for assent. He expressed optimism that the President would sign the bill into law, describing it as a major instrument for unlocking Nigeria's industrial potential.
The RMRDC chief said the proposed legislation was projected to generate over 1.2 million skilled jobs within five years, conserve foreign exchange through import substitution, strengthen foreign reserves, and increase manufacturing's contribution to the nation's Gross Domestic Product. He stressed the need for better information on the raw materials available across Nigerian communities, saying inadequate knowledge of the country's resource base had contributed to dependence on imported raw materials.
Ike-Muonso said the value-addition drive would also require greater awareness among young Nigerians, noting that the RMRDC was developing programmes for secondary school students to help them understand the economic potential of resources around them. The summit will feature high-level plenary sessions, policy dialogues, and interactive sessions on backward integration, industrial testing, and traceability, among others. A Pan-African Advanced Raw Materials and Technology Exhibition will showcase locally fabricated processing machinery and advanced materials.
Key points
- Africa has over $582 billion in documented non-renewable natural resources.
- RMRDC proposes 30 per cent mandatory value-addition mandate for Nigeria's industrialisation drive.
- ARMS 2026 aims to drive a continental shift from "pit-to-port" to "African feedstock to African factories".
