ENGR. ONWUALU CALLS FOR MORE COTTAGE INDUSTRIES IN THE WOOD SECTOR
                                                                                          
The Director General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Engr. (Prof.) A. Peter Onwualu, has advocated for the establishment of more wood- based cottage industries in Nigeria as a means of diversifying the country’s revenue generation base and as a means of sustaining industrial the nation’s natural resources endowment.  Prof. Onwualu said previous research development efforts in the past had shown that cottage and small- scale investment in wood products such as saw dust briquettes, particle boards, ceiling and floor tile production, and use of saw dust ash for concrete production, were potential areas for the attainment of rapid and sustainable economic development.

The RMRDC Boss noted that the Federal Government’s emphasis on diversification of the non- oil sector would receive a boost given the huge foreign exchange potential from processed wood products such as saw dust, even as he acknowledged the surge in demand of saw dust briquette materials in the world market as a source of heat energy by the western countries, during winter.

Delivering a welcome address at the opening ceremony of the Stakeholders Forum on Saw Dust Utilization and its Economic Potentials workshop, organized by the RMRDC South- West Zonal Office, in Lagos, recently, Prof. Onwualu further noted that Nigeria was ranked among one of the world’s most endowed nations in terms of human and natural resources, with vast expanse of fertile agricultural land that supported varieties of arable and tree crops.

He therefore called on stakeholders in the sector to exploit the relative advantage of abundant wood supply in the country by setting up industries to add value to the nation’s natural resources, even as he lamented the drop in supply of firewood and kerosene, two main sources of energy, arising from dwindling capacity utilization of the nation’s abundant saw dust which were presently left to waste or burnt.

In a paper titled “Sustainable Development: Sawdust Utilization in the Building Industry”, delivered during the occasion, Eng. (Prof.) A. U. Elinwa argued that Nigeria had witnessed several upheavals in the economy.  He went further to categorize them, in global terms, into pollution growth, technological revolutions, urbanization and controlled pollutions and erection of wastes. He identified globalization as the most significant change, which had impacted on the construction industry. He noted the heavy reliance on concrete in the industry presently, and said consideration must be put on the impact that the production of Portland cement, put at about7 billion tones per annum, would have on the environment on long term basis.

He said the only way to sustain the construction sector in this regard would be by finding substitutes to the conventional materials of cement in which case he recommended the use of sawdust- ash concrete which is derived mixing burnt sawdust with concrete or clay.  He therefore called for strategies that would encourage the use of low- cost building materials in place of the more costly conventional Portland cement.

Another paper that was presented at the forum included “Converting Wood into Particle Boards and Floor Tiles”, by Mr. J. J., Owonubi and Adejoba O. R. both of Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria.  The paper noted that the increasing demand for wood products in Nigeria was not commensurate with the availability of technology required to convert it into finished products.  It noted that the wood industry in Nigeria was still at its infancy where about 45- 60% of log input ended up as wood wastes due to low level of technology in the operations as well as inadequate training of personnel.

The paper also indicated that the conversion of wood wastes into profitable consumer products such as ceiling boards, floor and wall tiles would not only solve the problem the disposal problem facing the wood conversion industry but provide another opportunity for resource conservation, reduction of emission from combustion of the wastes and enhancement of local economies.

Other papers presented at the workshop include: Sawdust Briquette as a Foreign Exchange Earner- Practitioner’s Experience”, by Engr. A. A. Chikwendu, General Manager, Celina Industries Limited, “Progress and Problems of Okobaba Saw millers in the setting of Chipboard, Hardboard and Clean Development Mechanism CDM Industry”, by Mr. G. A. O. Onikeku, General Secretary, OkoBaba Saw millers Association, OkoBaba Area, Ebutte Meta.

                                                                                                                    Ngaha Chucks