Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has assured
Nigerians that the passage of the Raw Materials Research and Development
Council Amendment Bill by the National Assembly and its signing into law by
President Bola Tinubu, would be a moral compass for the rest of the continent
of AfricaAkpabio stated this while receiving in courtesy members of the Raw
Materials, Research and Development Council led by the Director-General,
Professor Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso in his office on Wednesday.
A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson
Udom, quoted the Senate President as saying, “if any of the values were to be
added in Nigeria before exporting them, we would have had at least, a factory
for those chains that would have also created jobs for our people outside what
the farmers are doing.
Technological shifts would have also come in terms of
innovations.”He also noted “that having listened to the leadership of the
council, it means that Nigeria is renewing its hope in terms of research, local
production, input and value chain, regretting that it is quite unfortunate that
we produce cocoa in Nigeria but end up importing same cocoa products from
outside the country at a higher cost and without any input.”Speaking further
Akpabio commended the Senate through the sponsor of the bill, Senator Onyekachi
Nwebonyi, saying,” I must commend the Nigerian Senate through the Deputy Senate
Whip for the initiative.”According to Akpabio, ” The most pathetic is the solid
mineral sector, because we are not adding any value before we sell it, the
result is you sell it at very cheap rate and if you sum it up, you will see
that development in Africa in 2025 is still in a primitìve state when it comes
to recognizing and utilizing the potentials available within his domain.
Poverty is really biting harder because of nothing, but ignorance.”He urged the
council to undertake major training, re-training and sensitization of Nigerians
and children in secondary schools should be taught something about raw
materials, solid minerals for recognition wherever they found one.”We must not
allow this to continue. If we now assist you by passing the Bill and the
President signs it into law, Nigeria would have taken the step to ensure that
whatever raw material is to be taken out of this country, must be given added
value of at least 30 percent.”, he declared.Earlier in his speech the leader of
delegation, Professor Ike- Muonso, thanked the Senate President for the
audience and placed on the record the various transformation and progress put
in place by the current leadership of the Senate.”We have seen the reforms like
the Tax Administration Bills, but the one that concerns us most, is the Bill to
amend the Act of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, which is
primarily to ensure that we do not export raw materials out of the country
without it having at least, 30 percent of value added. It is indeed Nigeria’s
and Africa’s number one bill that will change the fortune of this country
because Nigeria is a leader in the continent,”he stressed.He solicited the
support of the Senate President for the passage of the Bill and also requested
his presence at the Africa Raw Materials Summit coming up later in the month.
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