…says amendment will boost industrialization
The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) on Wednesday called on the National Assembly (NASS) to fast-track the amendment of the Act of Raw Materials Research and Development Council that proposes a 30% value addition for raw materials before export.
Speaking at a rally in support of the Bill in Abuja, the Secretary General of ASURI, Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku, explained that the Bill will pave the way for local processing, boosting domestic manufacturing industries.
“The bill aims to create jobs, reduce dependence on imports, and conserve foreign exchange. This legislation is common in many countries that export raw materials, and its implementation could have a significant impact on Nigeria’s economy.
“We are organizing this rally to support a landmark activity that is going on now at the National Assembly. It is all about the amendment of the Act of Raw Materials Research and Development Council to make provision for 30 percent value addition for all raw materials that are going to be exported from Nigeria.
“Now, this landmark activity is going to change the face of the economy of this country due its impact. Like in most countries of the world, you just don’t go and carry raw materials for export, you must add value even the big countries we hear about like China and all those Asian countries, even when they want to export their raw materials, they don’t allow you to export the raw material without value addition.
“Now, what is this value addition? If you want to add value to a raw material, you have to process; now for you to process, you have to build industry; for you to process, you have to use labor,” he stated.
Ndubuaku further explained that people are going to earn money through value addition processes: “People are going to be employed. There will be foreign direct investment to establish those factories and bringing equipment that will process those raw materials up to the level before you can export.Â
“So what we are talking about is a situation where we are going forward, we are going to have jobs created. Nigeria is a very big country with a lot of resources, but as at this moment, all we see is that people just go and take minerals without processing, and then they export.”
He said, “We are actually a raw material exporting country because we don’t really have the capacity to process them”.
ASURI Secretary General said the proposed Bill, when passed into law, will create a lot of opportunity for Nigerians in terms of revenue generation, job creation, poverty alleviation, foreign direct investment and economic growth.
“We assembled here to appreciate the Raw Materials Research Council for taking up this initiative; we also want to appreciate the National Assembly. So far, this Bill has gone through the first and second reading, and it is going for public hearing.
“We want to encourage them not to relent but ensure that this Bill goes through the whole process of legislation. We are also appealing to the Executive for assent when Bill is passed,” he added.
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