Recently, the management of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council ( RMRDC) led by its director general, Prof Hussaini Doko Ibrahim, had interaction with the Senate Committee on Science and Technology where issues of perception about the institute came up. TAIYE ODEWALE reports on this and other issues.
At the interface with the committee chaired by Senator Uche Lilian Ekwunife ( PDP Anambra Central), not only were many of the committee members ignorant of the giant strides RMRDC had made in the coordination of research and development ( R&D) in the country but couldn’t fathom, the development the agency has facilitated in the country over the years .But before chronicling such developmental landmarks made by the research council, it is very germane to trace the genesis of this agency.Its mandate
The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) was established by Decree 39 of December 17, 1987 with a mandate to expedite Nigeria’s industrial development and self-reliance through the optimal utilisation of local raw materials as input to the industries.
As part of its mandate, RMRDC coordinates research and development (R&D) activities on raw materials and products in Nigeria. Given the commendable efforts of its successive leadership, RMRDC is recognised as one of the foremost knowledge-based centres of excellence.
Its robust organisational arrangement, management quality and achievements in attainment of its mandate attract commendation and recognition by local and international stakeholders from the public and private sectors, non-governmental and community-based organisations as well as development partners.
The achievements of RMRDC include impressive milestones in R&D breakthroughs in harnessing raw materials in agriculture and mineral resources; chemicals equipment and engineering development. They also cover capacity building for MSMEs especially farmers’ association; empowerment of MSMEs with improved seedlings that are high yield, disease and drought resistant varieties.
Recorded impact manifests in the provision/availability of quality raw materials to meet local consumption by industries and households as well as for exports. In addition, RMRDC efforts over the years have positively impacted on household poverty alleviation and commendable saving of billions of foreign exchange from substantial reduction in imports.
Achievements so far
From existing records and within the ambits of its mandates, RMRDC has crafted and executed laudable programmes and projects that have impacted positively on Nigeria’s raw materials sourcing for the industrial sectors.This feat was achieved by the agency through local technology upgrade and development, relevant research works as evidenced by the numerous R&D efforts and technologies developed by RMRDC and deployed for use by some SMEs in their operations.
RMRDC has repositioned itself to be a major player and game changer in facilitating the government economic development policy initiatives with some sectors of the manufacturing industries such as food, beverage and tobacco; non-metallic mineral; wood and wood products, etc thereby achieving increased (over 50%) local raw materials sourcing for most industrial sectors. This is with significant contributions from RMRDC implementation of its programmes and projects. For example, the agency’s programmes of action in the first 10-15 years of its operations ensured that local industries looked inwards for their raw materials needs.
This led to local sourcing of raw materials for cement such as limestone, gypsum and malted sorghum for breweries with the emergence of additional brands of beverages.
The need for a coordinated and synergetic action by stakeholders led RMRDC to champion the formulation of a National Policy on Raw Materials which was intended to deepen the gains and harmonise the prevailing institutional frameworks towards local sourcing of raw materials.
The policy highlighted the challenges facing the industrial sectors of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and proffered coordinated efforts to support the growth of the real sector of the economy.
In addition, the council, being a member of the Tariff Technical Committee under the Federal Ministry of Finance, through its fiscal policy advocacy, also provides technical information on raw materials, intermediates and finished products which may be imported.
Therefore, the council’s advice to the government resulted in full/partial import prohibition of the following: These include gypsum for cement production, fruit juice (in retail packages), refined vegetable oil, spaghetti/noodles, cement (in retail packages), soaps and detergents.
Furthermore, mainly due to the council’s efforts, many multinational industries commenced the local production of some of the previously imported vital raw materials. Some specific examples include malted sorghum which was produced by Cadbury Nigeria Plc as a substitute for imported wheat in brewing. Pharma Deko Nigeria. Plc. also processed local natural sweetener (obtained from Thaumatacoccus danielli plant) for pharmaceutical products and dadawa was substituted for imported Maggi, etc.
Further outlooks
In responding further to the nation’s economic recession and following the directive by the minister of science and technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the Council, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the public and private sectors, developed the National Strategy for Competitiveness in Raw Materials and Products Development in Nigeria.
The Strategy was approved for implementation by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on May 31, 2017. It is one of the key initiatives of the government in diversifying and growing the economy within the framework of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
The strategy is at various levels of implementation by MDAs and OPS to ensure job creation, import reduction of raw materials and products as well as encourage local contents by improving the overall competitiveness rating. Suffice to add that this policy document was responsible for the introduction of the Presidential Executive Order 5 and the recent improved Nigeria’s global competitiveness rating by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The national strategy has an ambitious target of saving the country N3 trillion from import reduction of 10.8% in a period of 5 years implementation.The analysis of data on merchandise trade for the period 2017 and 2018 based on data from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed huge savings from import reduction within this period. Instructively, total savings from import reduction for the two-year period of 2017 and 2018 aggregated to N2.075 trillion. In 2017, significant savings was recorded in the reduction of import of products under HS Code 90 which include optical, photography, cinematographic materials, etc to the tune of N1.1 trillion. Also in 2018, significant savings in terms of import reduction occurred in HS Code 25 of which reduction in import of granite cut into a square or rectangular shape amounted to N174.05 billion.
Graciously , this represents 42.2% of total savings in 2018 which is N412.83 billion. Another area of savings resulting from import is tomato amounting to N8.4 billion in 2018. Saving derived from import reduction in milk and cream, concentrated or sweetened (HS Code 0402) was N48.15 billion.
Another area that comes to mind which can be described as the agency’s area of strength is in information gathering and dissemination leading to policy advisory roles, project initiation and large volume of publications.
In collaboration with UNIDO in the late 90s, the Council developed and hosted the Science and Technology Data Bank (STDB) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and also developed library software called X-lib for assessing information.
Further to this, the Council saw the need to broaden its efforts in information dissemination with the creation of the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS), which led to the call for the Council to assist in establishing the African Raw Materials Information System (ARMIS).
Arguably , the Council’s research and development initiatives is worthy of mention and commendation with over 15 patents and about 10 others under process within the last five to seven years awaiting different levels of commercialisation.
However despite the giants strides over the years, RMRDC is still facing challenges in the areas of appropriate legislation on commercialisation and proper sensitisation of the public on its numerous achievements, the outcome of which would erase and prevent wrong perception expressed about its operations and by extension, its relevance in the scientific and technological development of the country as was disclosed in the Senate recently.
