Raw exports mean we’re exporting jobs, RMRDC chief warns

KEY POINTS

• RMRDC DG Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso says Nigeria must shift from raw material exports to value addition and innovation.
• He warned that AfCFTA will not benefit Nigeria if the country remains a raw material exporter.
• He flagged weak energy supply, poor logistics, low engineering capacity and limited technology as key barriers to industrial growth.

Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, the director-general of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, says Nigeria’s industrial transformation hinges on a hard turn away from raw material exports toward deeper processing, value addition and homegrown innovation. He framed the shift as both economic and existential.

Ike-Muonso delivered the message at the 10th Bullion Lecture in Lagos, organized by the Centre for Financial Journalism. The event carried the theme “From Resources to Prosperity: How Raw Materials Development, Value Addition and Innovation Can Catalyse Nigeria’s Industrial Renaissance.”

Trapped in low-value exports

Specifically, Ike-Muonso said Nigeria remains stuck in a low-value export structure where raw commodities ship abroad with minimal processing while advanced economies pocket most of the gains. He warned that without a deliberate shift, the country will keep losing value, jobs and foreign exchange.

“Value addition is the bridge between resources and prosperity. If we continue to export raw materials without processing, we are exporting jobs and importing poverty,” Ike-Muonso said.

Furthermore, he argued that turning raw materials into finished products is the most sustainable pathway to long-term prosperity. Each stage of the value chain, he noted, multiplies value, creates jobs and strengthens income generation. The math, in his telling, is straightforward.

AfCFTA without value addition

Notably, Ike-Muonso cautioned that the African Continental Free Trade Area will deliver little benefit if Nigeria remains a raw material exporter. The trade pact, he said, hinges on the country first cracking the value addition equation.

“AfCFTA cannot work for us if we remain a raw material exporting economy. The 30 per cent minimum value addition framework must succeed first,” Ike-Muonso said.

Additionally, the DG noted that the 30 percent local value addition bill is still under legislative consideration. He framed its passage as a precondition for Nigeria to capture meaningful gains from continental trade.

The barriers blocking industry

Specifically, Ike-Muonso identified four chokepoints standing between Nigeria and a genuine industrial renaissance: weak energy supply, poor logistics, low engineering capacity and limited technology. Each one, on its own, can stall industrial scale-up. Together, they form a wall that no single ministry can dismantle alone.

“The biggest barrier is capability. Without knowledge and speed of execution, resources alone cannot transform an economy,” Ike-Muonso said.

He pointed to countries that successfully industrialized as case studies. Specifically, those economies prioritized value addition and built domestic processing capacity before they leaned on trade integration. Nigeria, he argued, has tried to do the latter without finishing the former. That sequencing matters.

With Nigeria sitting on vast raw material reserves and an estimated 220 million people, the demographic and resource math points one way. However, Ike-Muonso’s argument is that math alone does not deliver industrial renaissance.

Capability, capital, policy and execution must combine, and the clock is ticking as African competitors press their own value-addition agendas. The choice is no longer whether to shift, but how quickly the country can do it.