Notable captains of industry have urged Nigerians to prioritize the local processing of raw materials before export, identifying value addition as an irreducible commitment to driving the country’s industrial renaissance, reports ITREALMS.
This mandate was the focal point of the 10th edition of The Bullion Lecture, themed “From Resources to Prosperity: How Raw Materials Development, Value Addition and Innovation Can Catalyse Nigeria’s Industrial Renaissance,” recently held at the Civic Centre, Lagos.
The guest lecturer, Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), argued that Nigeria’s industrialization must be anchored fundamentally on its natural resources, noting that the country should ideally utilize 80 percent of its domestic resources to power its industrial engine.
Prof. Ike-Muonso presented a sobering unblinking recording of comparative data across global markets including the United States, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Kenya, which revealed that Nigeria currently captures significantly less value from its resources than its global peers. Interrogating the gaps in the current theater of operations, the Director-General outlined critical structural barriers that serve as an uncrossable chasm for domestic processing.
These include a massive energy deficit costing the economy $29 billion annually, roughly 5 to 6 percent of GDP, due to unreliable power, and a logistics gap where only 30 percent of the road network is paved, significantly inflating transport costs for bulk commodities.
Furthermore, he noted that a high “private infrastructure tax” stemming from a reliance on self-generation erodes the viability of domestic firms, while a capacity gap in process engineering and materials science expertise remains a standard prerequisite that the nation has yet to meet.
Despite these challenges, Prof. Ike-Muonso maintained that sustained industrialization is the most viable pathway to long-term prosperity and moved past traditional shadows to call for a standardized transformation of the sector.
Echoing this sentiment, Otunba Dele Oye, Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics and former President of NACCIMA, decried the nation’s heavy reliance on imports and the imbalance in how foreign investors exploit Nigerian raw materials without meaningful local contribution.
Otunba Oye called for deliberate government policies and stricter regulatory stewardship to ensure that resource exploitation benefits Nigerian citizens and enables local investors to compete favorably on the global stage.
The high-level engagement also featured a profound leadership event with the unveiling of the commemorative book, "Pathways to Nigeria’s Socio-Economic Transformation" by Dr. Ray Echebiri, which archives the intellectual contributions of the Bullion Lecture series since its inception in 2016, alongside awards for consistent partners in the innovation flywheel.
The guest lecturer, Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), argued that Nigeria’s industrialization must be anchored fundamentally on its natural resources, noting that the country should ideally utilize 80 percent of its domestic resources to power its industrial engine.
Prof. Ike-Muonso presented a sobering unblinking recording of comparative data across global markets including the United States, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Kenya, which revealed that Nigeria currently captures significantly less value from its resources than its global peers. Interrogating the gaps in the current theater of operations, the Director-General outlined critical structural barriers that serve as an uncrossable chasm for domestic processing.
These include a massive energy deficit costing the economy $29 billion annually, roughly 5 to 6 percent of GDP, due to unreliable power, and a logistics gap where only 30 percent of the road network is paved, significantly inflating transport costs for bulk commodities.
Furthermore, he noted that a high “private infrastructure tax” stemming from a reliance on self-generation erodes the viability of domestic firms, while a capacity gap in process engineering and materials science expertise remains a standard prerequisite that the nation has yet to meet.
Despite these challenges, Prof. Ike-Muonso maintained that sustained industrialization is the most viable pathway to long-term prosperity and moved past traditional shadows to call for a standardized transformation of the sector.
Echoing this sentiment, Otunba Dele Oye, Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics and former President of NACCIMA, decried the nation’s heavy reliance on imports and the imbalance in how foreign investors exploit Nigerian raw materials without meaningful local contribution.
Otunba Oye called for deliberate government policies and stricter regulatory stewardship to ensure that resource exploitation benefits Nigerian citizens and enables local investors to compete favorably on the global stage.
The high-level engagement also featured a profound leadership event with the unveiling of the commemorative book, "Pathways to Nigeria’s Socio-Economic Transformation" by Dr. Ray Echebiri, which archives the intellectual contributions of the Bullion Lecture series since its inception in 2016, alongside awards for consistent partners in the innovation flywheel.
Gbemi Omotoso/Editor
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