FG’ll end raw materials export, promote value addition to grow Nigeria’s economy – Minister

The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, has said the federal government is crafting forward-looking policies, deploying digital tools, traceability infrastructure and research-to-industry pathways to ensure Africa moves from extraction to transformation—from potential to prosperity, under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Speaking Tuesday in Abuja, during the opening ceremony […]

The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, has said the federal government is crafting forward-looking policies, deploying digital tools, traceability infrastructure and research-to-industry pathways to ensure Africa moves from extraction to transformation—from potential to prosperity, under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Speaking Tuesday in Abuja, during the opening ceremony of a 3-day Africa Raw Materials Summit 2025, with the theme “Shaping the Future of Africa’s Resource Landscape”, he said, for too long, Nigeria and other Africa countries have exported raw materials and imported dependencies, saying there is need for the continent to accelerate value addition across Africa’s raw materials sector and to strengthen industrial resilience and economic sovereignty.

He said value addition is no longer aspirational but imperative, saying it is the bridge between poverty and prosperity, the path to youth empowerment, SME growth and global competitiveness.

He said: “As Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, I have the distinct privilege of overseeing Nigeria’s national innovation ecosystem, driving our agenda for industrial development, digital transformation, clean energy integration and technology-enabled governance. It is within these mandates that the mission for this summit was conveyed, a platform to accelerate value addition across Africa’s raw materials sector and to strengthen our continent’s industrial resilience and economic sovereignty.

“Africa stands at a defining threshold. For too long, we have exported raw materials and imported dependencies. The summit’s theme, ‘Shaping the Future of Africa’s Resource Landscape’, challenges us to rewrite this narrative. This is not just a policy document, it is a continental declaration of intent, a call to build economies where value is retained.

“Industries are localized, and innovation drives progress. Value addition is no longer aspirational. It is imperative. It is the bridge between poverty and prosperity. The path to youth empowerment, SME growth, and global competitiveness. I commend the Raw Materials Research and Development Council for its ground breaking efforts in driving Nigeria’s 30% minimum value addition policy and for establishing this summit as a unified platform for Africa’s industrial future.

“The Ministry remains unwavering in his support to Nigeria’s 30% Minimum Value-Addition Policy. We are crafting forward-looking policies, deploying digital flexibility and stratification infrastructure and scaling research to commercialization frameworks to ensure that local content forms a pillar of inter-African trade under African Continental Free Trade Agreement, with partners across the country.”

Also speaking, the Director-General, Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, said the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is lighting the flames of an industrial renaissance as it is rooted in local transformation, inclusive prosperity, and strategic value addition.

He said with the proposed bill by RMRDC at the National Assembly, there will be no less than 30 per cent value addition to every raw material before it crosses Nigeria’s borders.

He said: “This summit is our moment, where Africa reclaims its narrative, redefines its destiny, and rededicates itself to transforming raw wealth into real wealth, from the soil beneath our feet through the genius within our people.

“This summit is not just a dialogue; it is Africa’s proclamation of industrial independence, a renewed consciousness of authentically becoming producers of value rather than exporters of potential. President Thabo Mbeki once warned, ‘Africa’s growth will only be sustainable when we process what we produce and add value before we export.’ That truth burns brighter than ever.

“I want to appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his commitment to revitalization the raw material subsector of the Nigeria economy with laudable initiatives, a feat that has birth the convergence of this timely Summit. Indeed, his astute commitment to the economic prosperity of our country is unrivalled.

“Here in Nigeria, under the visionary leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Nigeria First Policy is lighting the flames of an industrial renaissance, a Renewed Hope rooted in local transformation, inclusive prosperity, and strategic value addition. He powerfully declared two years ago that, ‘A situation in which the raw minerals are extracted from our countries, exported, refined, and sold to us as finished products merely Consolidates the foundations of our misery and pushes us further down the depths of underdevelopment.’ That cycle should end now.

“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, 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.”
Also speaking, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who was represented by Senator representing Adamawa Central, Senator Aminu Iya Abbas, who is also Chairman Senate Committee on Science and Technology, said the 30% Minimum Value-Addition Bill, currently under consideration will be passed this week.

“Africa, a continent immensely rich in mineral, agricultural, and energy resources, remains a paradox of abundance amidst underdevelopments. We extract, yet others manufacture. We export in raw form yet import with added value. This extractive model—fuelled by colonial legacies and sustained by global asymmetries—must now give way to a new paradigm rooted in local processing, regional integration, and sovereign economic vision.

“In the Nigerian Senate, we have resolved to be proactive in addressing this structural imbalance. It is in this spirit that I reaffirm our full legislative backing for the 30% Minimum Value-Addition Bill, currently under consideration. This ground-breaking bill mandates that no raw material of Nigerian origin shall be exported without undergoing a minimum of 30% local value addition—whether through processing, refining, packaging, or industrial transformation. This legislation is not intended to stifle trade; rather, it is designed to ignite domestic enterprise, create jobs, attract capital, and build resilient value chains that benefit our people,” he said.