COMMUNIQUÉ OF THE SUMMIT ON THE STATE OF LOCAL RAW MATERIALS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA, ORGANIZED BY RAW MATERIALS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (RMRDC) IN COLLABORATION WITH MIKISTE DIREVII AND THOMAS PROMOTIONS, HELD AT LADI KWALI HALL, SHERATON HOTEL AND TOWERS, ABUJA, FROM 31^ST OCTOBER – 1^ST NOVEMBER, 2007

As part of the contributions of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology to evolve new strategies to support the actualization of aspects of Vision 2020 and the 7-point Agenda of the present administration, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) in collaboration with Mikiste Direvii and Thomas Promotions organized a 2-day Summit to address the state of local raw materials research and development in Nigeria, from 31^st October to 1^st November, 2007 at the Ladi Kwali Hall of the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja. 

The objective of the Summit, which had the theme: “The State of Local Raw Materials Research and Development in Nigeria”, was to bring stakeholders from the States, Local Government and Private Sector together to present unbiased report on the impact and status of Raw Materials Research and Development in their domains. It is expected that at the end of the summit, participants would;

·    Come up with a blue-print that will define a new road-map for raw materials development in order to address contemporary issues such as inadequate funding, effective community and private sector participation;

·   Evolve strategies to implement community based raw materials development projects to enhance wealth creation and poverty reduction.

Resource persons were drawn from Research Institutes, Organized Private sector and Financial Institutions. Technical papers were presented on R & D in Nigeria, Technology Development, Investment Promotion, Deletion Programme, Raw Material Information System, SME Funding in Nigeria, and Resource Endowment of Nigeria on State basis. Technical paper presentations were followed by discussions led by the Organized Private Sector (OPS), MAN, NASME, NASSI and NACCIMA.

The Summit was attended by over 100 participants, including the following dignitaries; the Hon. Minister of Science and Technology, Mrs. Grace Ekpiwhre (who also represented The President and Commander in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation), representative of Australian High Commission in Nigeria, Mr. Jeff Hart, Cuban Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Elio Savon, Representative of U.S Embassy in Nigeria, Mrs. Caroline Jensen, Oyo State Commissioner for Industry, Applied Science and Technology, Dr. M.T. Lawal (who represented the Oyo State Governor), Kaduna State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr. Mohammed S. Bello (who represented the Kaduna State Governor), Plateau State Commissioner for Commerce and Industries, Mr. Na-Allah Mutbam (who represented the Plateau State Governor), former Economic Adviser to Mr. President, Dr. Osita Ogbu, Deputy Governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Garuba M. Gadi, representative of the Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Mr. W. Gomwalk, representative of the Chairman House Committee on Science and Technology, Mr. Ibioye Bamisaiye, representative of the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. M.A. Ejiofor, DG MAN, Mr. Jide Mike, President of NASME, Dr. Abugu, representative of NASSI President, Mrs. D.S. Gyar, Director TAA Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr. Bindir, Local Government Chairmen and members of the Organized Private Sector. The event was well covered by the local press and BBC World (Hausa service)   
The Summit commended Vision 2020 and the 7-point Agenda of the present administration and saw it as a welcome development to support the concerted efforts made by government and its agencies (such as RMRDC, SMEDAN, NOTAP, SON, FIRRO, etc) to promote R & D, commercialization of research results and overall industrialization and development in the country through utilization of its abundant raw materials resources.

 However, in view of the enormous potentials in human and natural resources, the Summit was of the opinion that a lot more should have been achieved in the country.

 OBSERVATIONS
In addition to the general problems militating against effective raw materials development, utilization and industrialization of the country such as low development of infrastructural facilities, poor state of R & D facilities, inadequate research funding, low development of engineering infrastructure, low manpower development, inconsistency and poor application of government policies on importation, the Summit observed as follows:

i.     The forum was very timely and that the importance of science and technology in driving the economy of any nation cannot be overemphasized. As such, the Summit would be different from the usual talk-shop pattern, but would have to define concrete steps towards achieving set objectives;

ii.     R & D results are largely buried in the shelves of libraries and have failed to see the light of commercialization because most of them were not demand-driven;

iii.    RMRDC has done a lot of work in research and development that require more advocacy and publicity to get the results of research findings to the appropriate investors that would use them;

iv.    Political pressures are necessary impetus for scientists and technologists to face new challenges and should be carefully managed to provide the synergy and avoid parochial interests that could hinder the realization of the lofty ideas of programmes and projects of the Council;

v.     The deletion programme of the Council was commended but required more efforts by the Council in collaboration with stakeholders to ensure that only those raw materials that are in abundance and have developed enough potentials for substitutions/domestication should be enlisted and forced in the prohibition list. The deletion Programme should actually be used as yardstick to measure RMRDC achievements;

vi.    Raw materials development and utilization involved several mutually re-enforcing components, which must be properly identified and put in place if the overall objective is to be met. Some of these components that were seen to be still weak included; rural post-harvest infrastructure (drying, storage); appropriate local technology development and dissemination, including rural maintenance/repair centre; enforcement of acceptable industrial standards for compliance;

vii    The 1% statutory allocation from import to RMRDC is grossly inadequate in view of the drastic drop in manufacturing activities occasioned by government importation policy which resulted in poor accruable revenue to the Council;

viii   Electricity is key amongst other infrastructural requirements for effective industrialization and development of SMEs.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Summit recommended that:

i.        Research chairs should be established on all key raw materials in Nigeria    before the endof 2009 for the purpose of developing innovative products,  processing technologies and modern packaging techniques for those raw materials.

ii.       RMRDC should organize interactive workshops on zonal basis to disseminate
          information on R & D findings

iii.      Raw Materials Information Centres and desks should be established in all States and Local Government Areas respectively and RMRDC should organize sensitization workshops on RMIS in the 6-geopolitical zones aimed at industrial entrepreneurs e.g NASME, NASSI, MAN, and other organized bodies.

iv.      The Federal Government should establish a sustainable policy on SMEs, Micro-finance Banks, SME Banks and the National Credit Guarantee Scheme to assist its funding. 

v.       The Council should continue to hold the stakeholders’ forum on deletion programme.

vi.      RMRDC should liaise effectively with relevant Agencies in raw material development and utilization along with regulatory bodies such as Customs to ensure that the Council’s recommendations on deletion programme are implemented.

vii.     Stakeholders should ensure the establishment of industrial scale productions, using adaptable modern technology and evolve strategies for the establishment of at least one key industry in each Local Government Area before the end of 2009 in order to produce exportable value added products from local raw materials.

viii.     The Federal Government should consider the upward review of the 1% statutory allocation to the RMRDC.

ix.      There is the need to proliferate cottage-scale rural based industries to produce intermediate raw materials for bigger factories. This would help to create employment and stem the rate of rural-urban drift.

x.       The State and Local Government should partner with RMRDC to fund raw materials research and processing into intermediate products in their localities. The processed raw materials should be used by industrial clusters.

xi.      The Federal Government’s 7-point Agenda should be sustained because they cut across all sectors of the economy.

xii.     RMRDC should have a feedback mechanism from the general public before embarking on projects so as to know the type of projects to embark upon.
xiii.     Technical support services and investment opportunities based on the local area raw materials endowment and emerging infrastructure should be provided to small fabricators of machinery and equipment.

xiv.     Nigeria is endowed with enormous agricultural and mineral resources; therefore investors should be assisted to establish industries to exploit these vast deposits.

xv.     Government should come up with policies that will encourage    Commercial banks to support SMEs.

The communiqué was adopted by a motion moved by Alhaji Isa Mohammed (Chairman Toro LGA, Bauchi State) and seconded by Mr. Kingsley Nwagu (from NACCIMA).