…RMRDC rallies support as bill awaits presidential assent
Nigeria’s proposed 30% Value-Addition Bill is poised to reshape the country’s industrial landscape, senior government officials said friday, as the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) stepped up national advocacy efforts ahead of President Bola Tinubu’s expected assent.
The bill, already passed by the National Assembly, would prohibit the export of raw materials without a minimum 30% domestic processing and bar the importation of raw materials that are considered abundant locally.
Speaking at the Council’s stakeholder conference in Abuja, Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, said the bill marks a decisive turn away from decades of economic policies that encouraged the export of unprocessed commodities and the importation of finished goods. “Our economic model has been a pact with poverty,” Udeh said. “It exports our national wealth and imports unemployment. Today, we gather to break this cycle.”
Udeh said earlier engagements—including a public hearing—showed “99.9%” support for the measure, adding that friday’s meeting was part of the government’s efforts to sustain public interest while preparing industries for the transition.
He noted that NEXIM bank’s push for recapitalisation to ₦1 trillion underscores the scale of supporting financial and legal infrastructure needed to make the 30% rule workable. “There are other supporting systems required,” he said. “All stakeholders must be on deck.”
He argued that the bill aligns seamlessly with President Tinubu’s industrial and economic reform agenda and said he expects the president to sign it.
While the legislation includes a six-month transition period, Udeh urged immediate preparation, saying some industries may require a longer runway. “Start to engage,” he said. “Stakeholders in the industrial sector must begin taking steps to prepare for implementation.”
The minister said Nigeria’s vast domestic market—more than 200 million people—together with access to Africa’s 1.3-billion-person consumer base, positions the country to shift from raw material supply to higher-value manufacturing.
He linked the bill to Executive Order No. 5 of 2018, calling it the next step in embedding local content and technology transfer in the non-oil economy. “It transforms the principle of technology transfer into a non-negotiable condition for accessing our raw material wealth,” he said.
According to Udeh, the legislation commits Nigeria to three core outcomes, including retaining value within its borders, stimulating domestic processing, and expanding high-skilled industrial employment.
He urged legislators, manufacturers, researchers and investors to see the measure as both a protection and an opportunity. “The law will protect you from being undercut by unregulated agents,” he told manufacturers. For researchers, he said the bill “guarantees a market for your solutions.”
However, his strongest emphasis was on implementation, which he described as Nigeria’s historic weakness. “The problem of Nigeria is not lawmaking but implementation,” Udeh said. “Implementation is not only for government; it is for everyone.”
Earlier in his address, Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, RMRDC Director-General/CEO, who said the legislation forms the backbone of a long-term strategy to restore the agency as the country’s lead promoter of raw material import substitution. “Nigeria’s industrialisation is intrinsically tied to utilising at least 80% of our domestic natural resources in manufacturing,” he said.
Read also: Nigeria is on the path of transformative industrial era – RMRDC DG
Ike-Muonso said the council opted for a legislative route to protect the value-addition agenda from the policy reversals that have crippled previous industrial programmes. “Once this bill is assented to, compliance becomes a matter of law, not convenience,” he said.
He described the bill as standing on two “mighty pillars” – a ban on exporting raw materials without 30% domestic processing, and a prohibition on importing raw materials that Nigeria already produces in sufficient quantities.
Together, he said, the provisions would “halt the export of unprocessed raw materials,” stimulate factories across agriculture, solid minerals and waste recycling, and generate “massive employment opportunities—especially for SMEs.”
The DG said the reforms would conserve foreign exchange, improve trade balance, strengthen GDP and attract both domestic and foreign investors seeking value-chain opportunities.
He credited President Tinubu’s stance that Africa must capture commensurate value from its natural resources, and praised lawmakers and private-sector groups—including the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria—for their collaboration.
Ike-Muonso defended the decision to begin nationwide sensitisation before Tinubu’s assent, calling it a strategic necessity. “Legislative assent acts as the firing gun,” he said, “but our industries, exporters and regulators must already be on the blocks, poised to sprint.”
Early advocacy, he said, provides investors with clarity, helps exporters retool their processes, and ensures regulatory agencies prepare for enforcement—from verifying value-addition certificates to stopping unprocessed exports. “This bill is not just a document,” he said. “It is a declaration of Nigeria’s economic independence.”
