Adding Values To Nigeria's Raw Materials Is Bedrock Of Sustainable Economic Development - Rev. Bunmi Jenyo

The Honourable Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in Osun State, Rev. Bunmi Jenyo has admonished all and sundry to join hands in adding values to raw materials in Nigeria and Africa, to maximize profits and sustainable economic development.

The Commissioner disclosed this at the Africa Raw Materials Summit 2025, held at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Federal Capital Territory, between May 20 and 22, 2025.

The Africa Raw Materials Summit is a dynamic gathering designed to unite researchers, industrial leaders, policymakers, investors and key stakeholders across the continent of Africa. It also aimed at sparking innovative ideas, foster valuable partnership and explore strategies for transforming Africa's Raw Materials into key drivers of industrial growth and sustainable economic development.

The Commissioner expressed dissatisfaction about tonnes of Cocoa beans that are exported annually out of Nigeria, and returned at exorbitant rates after values are added, which could be transformed to Cocoa Chocolate, if value is added to it in Nigeria.

The Commissioner also asserted that irrigation is key for all-season production of raw materials, to further broaden the industrialization tendencies.

He cited the Israel Irrigation System which enabled the country to produce fruits and vegetables for World consumption at all seasons. "Today, Israel ceaselessly supplies the whole world's fruits and vegetables in all seasons," the Commissioner said.

In his welcome address, the Director General, Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso,  said the Summit is a "Clarion call to shape our fate with our own hands".

According to him, "value addition is our liberation. It is the bridge between resource abundance and people-centred wealth. It is the lever through which we will, build globally competitive African brands rooted in our soil and sweat".

"It will also deepen regional value chains and ignite intra-African trade in intermediate and finished goods. Most crucially, it will keep the wealth of Africa within Africa, for Africans, now and for generations unborn", he said.

"At RMRDC, we are not waiting for miracles. We are building Models. Our Data-Driven Raw Materials Information System (DARMIS), the first in Nigeria, is a digital transformation engine".

"To all Africans, we say: this is a replicable revolution.Adopt it. Adapt it. Advance it. Let us build a raw materials data-smart, production-driven and proudly self-reliant continent", he said.