EBONYI GOVERNMENT COMMENDS RMRDC ON LOCAL RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS IN THE STATE, REQUESTS FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE ON PROJECTS

The Ebonyi state government has commended the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) for agreeing to partner with it in the development of its solid minerals, industrial and agricultural resources. 

Mazi Ben Akpa, Commissioner for Industry and Mineral Development in the state, who led a delegation comprising the UNIDO project Manager in the state, Evang. Chukwuma Elom and the UNIDO project engineer, Engr, Itume, on a courtesy call to the Council recently, said the Executive Governor of Ebonyi state, His Excellency, Dr. Sam Ominyi Egwu, had asked him to convey his personal gratitude to the Director General of the Council, Engr. (Prof.) Peter Onwualu for accepting to partner with the state government on the development of it’s solid minerals and industrial potentials. 

The Hon. Commissioner also used the opportunity to request for Council’s intervention in some of the projects being executed by the state government such as the salt project. He said the absence of modern processing technology in this regard ha d placed obvious impediments in the states ability to capture market segments and compete favourably with other producers of the commodity. He therefore appealed to the Council to provide the women in the state with enhanced equipment and to further assist in the following areas, even as he noted that the output of the solar technology currently being used , could not sustain commercial production activities: 

-      improving the salt production technology;

-      changing the energy source for salt processing by using the abundant rice husks in the
state for briquettes;

-      carrying out analysis of the salt to ensure that lead/zinc and other impurities were eliminated;

-      embarking on product development and export value addition; and

-      development of the Enyigba salt mine as a large-scale salt production plant.

On the Small Business Development Center which was established by the state government to render training and consultancy services to small business entrepreneurs in the state, the Council was requested to provide funding for the take off of the center as well as provide a comprehensive IT facility required to build capacity among the youth segment of citizenry. He said the training center, which aims to offer training in the areas of general business education, information technology, entrepreneurial development, computer and GSM repairs, cassava processing and value addition targeted for the world cassava market, quality assurance/customer service, among other things, was ready to go into full operation but required financial and technical support from development agencies to become fully operational. He therefore appealed to the Council come to its aid.  

Speaking further, Mazi Akpa informed the DG that the state government, in collaboration with the Unite Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), had completed the resource assessment studies and preliminary investigations on rice husk as an energy generation source, while the feasibility study report on a rice husk power generation plant earmarked for establishment in the state had also been completed. He therefore called for Council’s intervention in this regard based on its profile as an important catalyst for industrial development in the country.  

Responding, the DG expressed his satisfaction with the emphasis which the Ebonyi state government had placed on the development of its abundant natural resources. He noted that there could not be any appreciable socio-economic growth without raw materials production and exploitation. 

He further observed that such activities were presently concentrated in the hands of peasants and the under privileged groups who resided in the rural areas adding that any economic activity carried out by these groups in the area of primary production or downstream intermediate processing were still driven by primitive traditional methods with its many impediments. He said RMRDC as a catalyst for industrialization of the nation had been at the forefront of disseminating information on the potentials of available local raw materials and promoting as well as supporting the development of appropriate, affordable technology for value- addition. 

Prof. Onwualu said the Council was willing to collaborate with the state in its quest to develop its salt raw materials resources. Already, he said RMRDC had plans to upgrade a salt processing plant earlier produced by the Science Equipment Development Institute, Enugu (SEDI), while another plant was being produced at the Federal Polytechnic Nassarawa so that the two processing plants could be harmonized for greater efficiency. 

The DG also indicated the Council’s interest in businesses that would involve the processing of raw materials such as rice, cassava, yam and other cottage industries and called on the Hon. Commissioner to liaise with the RMRDC liaison office in the state to submit project proposals in this regard, even as he stated that the Council would concentrate it’s effort only in the areas of technology development and other raw materials processing techniques, and could therefore not participate in mining activities giving the presence of the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals who had the national mandate for solid minerals development.   

                                                                                                                            Chucks Ngaha