Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC)

Competitiveness is key to economic growth and development

‘Revive Raw Materials Research Council’

If the current trend where over 70 per cent of raw materials for paints and other products’ manufacturing is sourced from abroad must be revised, there is the need for the Federal Government to revive the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Chairman of DN Meyer Plc., Sir Remi Omotosho, has said.

He said despite the fact that some of the raw materials for paints and other products manufacturing are available locally, the drive for local substitution embarked upon in the country in the 1980s was abandoned, and replaced in the 1990s by import syndrome with people relying heavily on imports.

He said RMRDC was set up to explore alternative sources of raw materials for the local industries, but regretted that all of a sudden, RMRDC disappeared from the radar. “That agency ought to be revived,”he argued.

He told The Nation to employ a carrot and stick approach in the drive for local substitution. “If you rely on local raw materials, manufacturers will be compelled to contribute to the research funds for that body because we are going to benefit at the end of the day. If, however, you want to rely upon imported raw materials, tariff should be able to take care of that.”

Omotosho, however, pointed out that the paints industry is not the only area where the import syndrome is playing out. He said the automotive industry, for instance, is also hard hit. “About the same time TATA got licensed to produce spares for Mercedes Benz trucks in India, the one in Enugu (ANAMCO) got theirs. But where are we today?” he asked.

According to him, the volume of spares produced in Nnewi, Anambra State, could be used basically to replace import of spare parts for vehicles. “If you don’t have a place where you have that assembly and things start to integrate backwards, you continue to rely on importing fully built vehicles, which is what you have today,” he said.

While emphasizing that a lot of materials used in the production of goods are available locally, the industrialist regretted that those who should be developing local raw materials would rather go and import them and sale. “There is need for the government to get RMRDC back in place in a purposeful, focused manner, visionary in its approach by collaborating with manufacturers to get a lot of the input produced locally,” he insisted.

He noted that putting RMRDC back on track is similar to the 10 per cent local content in the oil and gas industry. He said developing local substitute for imports by reviving RMRDC in line with the local content initiative in the oil and gas industry was necessary if Nigeria must realize her dream of becoming an industrialized nation.

“After satisfying her local needs, Nigeria may even end up exporting to other countries,” he said, noting: “If we are compelled to rely on our own internal resources I can assure you that those who are importing will begin to see the need to develop local substitute for the imports. You must not expect the manufacturers themselves to be the developers of these raw materials; it’s not going to work, there must be other people along the value chain who can fill in that gap.”

He said the government could encourage the drive for local substitution for raw materials through some sort of incentives since the government is mostly affected by the problem of import syndrome.

“There has to be that facility provided or promoted through or by Ministry of Industry for production of local raw materials,” he argued, pointing out:“If we are producing the raw materials here, you know that people will be employed in those outfits manufacturing those raw materials. They will also be paying income tax and a lot of benefits will accrue to government.”

The Chairman of DN Meyer also argued that by doing so, Nigeria will stop creating employment for others, particularly in a country where the rate of graduate unemployment is very high.

“You must realize that those who are selling to you are not producing them here; they import and sell to you. Even when some of them say they have their own factory, they bring the raw materials and add some additives and sell to you. You can still do better than that because some of those basic things they are using to which they add some other agents can be produced here if we are dedicated and organized,” he admonished.

Culled from The Nation Newspaper (http://thenationonlineng.net/new/revive-raw-materials-research-council/)

‘Revive Raw Materials Research Council’ | The Nation ‘Revive Raw Materials Research Council’Posted by: Chikodi Okereocha in Industry11 days agoIf the current trend where over 70 per cent of raw materials for paints and other products’ manufacturing is sourced from abroad must be revised, there is the need for the Federal Government to revive the Raw M…

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Welcome to Raw Materials Research and Development Council The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) is an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria vested with the mandate to promote the development and utilization of Nigeria’s industrial raw materials.