By Stella Azi and Moyofoluwa Ogunyemi
The Director General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has reaffirmed that his administration is poised to revolutionize raw materials value chain for Nigeria.
This, the DG said will help the country achieve optimal productivity in both agricultural and mineral sectors of the economy.
The DG made this known when he and his team paid a working visit to the Group Managing Director GTI Capital Group, Mr. Abubakar Lawal, recently in Lagos.
Speaking during the visit, the DG said that the Council seeks to revive stakeholder’s relationship with GTI, a leading investment bank renowned for its success in expanding rice and oil palm value chains in Nigeria. The gesture will activate standard process technology across all raw materials value chain, boost industrial input and curb post-harvest losses, especially in the agricultural sub sector to build a self-sustaining national economy.
Ike-Muonso, who lamented that despite the comparative advantage the nation has in onion production, the sub-sector suffers tremendous post-harvest loses annually. He stated emphatically that partnership with GTI at this time, is what RMRDC needs to establish a sustainable raw material production, aggregation and distribution framework; being that RMRDC has the technical capacities to deliver on the project, and GTI has the structure and financial expertise to drive the entire value chain processes.
While clearly pointing out that the collaboration will mark a pivotal step toward industrializing Nigeria’s raw materials sector, he also disclosed that the partnership will start with the onion value chain; an economic crop with plenty derivatives of which the RMRDC is already doing a lot in that regards.
In his comment, the Director, Technology Development Department of RMRDC, Engr. Emmanuel Kwaya, leading the in-house research team on developing mechanisms for proper processing, preservation and storage of onion to curb post-harvest loses, informed that about 50% of onions produced, go to waste due to lack of proper storage, amounting to N300 billion – N500 billion loss annually.
He reiterated Council’s immediate need for support in process development to enhance value-addition and reduce wastage from the farm gate to the market. He stated that Nigeria is the second largest producer of onion in Africa, with 2 million metric tons a year, only after Egypt. However, Nigeria still imports onions at an estimated cost of about ₦35 billion.
The Director said that the Council is partnering with a private manufacturing plant in Sokoto which currently produces 100kg of onion powder daily, but with some intervention can be upscaled to 500kg per day; this, he said would require about ₦150 million to install an onion dryer and lyophilizer for processing raw onions into flakes and powder.
He further stated that RMRDC partnered with Sokoto State government to fabricate onion processing equipment/machines, ranging from slicing, washing to centrifugal dewatering machines, tray drier and a water treatment plant using indigenous technology.
In his response, the Group Managing Director, said the appointment of Ike-Muonso, by President Bola Tinubu, has redefine public perception of RMRDC, and is restoring hope.
According to the MD, the Council was supposed to be the engine of economic growth in Nigeria, It was supposed to be the shining light that triggers national development; while other agencies followed suit, but then it fell short of these expectations.
Abubakar, who indicated that he had known RMRDC since its establishment, but the visit by the DG and his team to GTI was the first interface he was having with the Council, informed that GTI is a venture capitalist company, with well-established structure and capacity.
He was impressed with the RMRDC presentation, saying that the partnership will indeed revolutionize the raw materials sector.
“We create ideas, run with it and deliver, with the right structure in place, partnership with RMRDC will actualize the desired objective … transcend Nigeria from being a raw materials state to a semi process haven.
“The partnership will become a vehicle to promote competitiveness, create jobs, activate and energize the entire value chain ecosystem.” he said.