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AUXANO Foundation, Others Donor Identifies With Neglected Communities In FCT

Published

6 years ago

July 20, 2020

Despite huge investment and claim of judicious distribution of palliatives to the poorest of the poor in the FCT to cushion the effects of hunger, as the World experiences coronavirus pandemic, hope eventually came to two near-forgotten villages at the center of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Saturday as nongovernmental organization NGO under the aegis of AUXANO foundation, Fetes the inhabitants of the two villages with food items and clothing to put a smile on their faces.

Speaking to our Reporters the Convener stated that the Outreach with the themed “Charity Without Boundaries” was sponsored by a good-spirited Nigerian who preferred to be identified as Anonymous donor.

According to her, the Pandemic Communicate Project-3 was a progression from the previous outreaches done in Niger State in May and Kuchingoro IDP camp early this month. She thanks the volunteers and team who come from different professional backgrounds and sacrifice their time in active volunteering. She thanked them for their unswerving commitment in taking food and relief materials to where it’s most needed during these difficult and challenging times of COVID 19.

Dakwo village and Durumi 111/ Dubeina, are among the immediate villages which form the constituency of Honourable Micha Jiba of who is currently serving in the Ninth Assembly.

It was a pitiable atmosphere as indigent people scramble over bags of rice while lamenting of government total neglect in everything despite producing a member of parliament in the ninth

According to one of the senior village Chief at Durumi 111 Chief Philip Babawa, who represented the village paramount Chief of the village Chief Bawa Iya, during the visit, stated that over a decade now the villages have continued to experience horrible land grabbing from government officials and politicians at their ancestral home amidst developmental neglect. Mr. Babawa, however, indicated that the villages have since requested from government public health centers, primary and secondary schools, pipe born water but of no avail.

His words, what the village (Durumi 111/Dubeina) is battling now are this unnecessary encroachment on the village lands by land grabbers in connivance with the government officials. The impossible is about to happen because the primary school built by the village to educate her children has had its land allocated to a private buyer for the use of another business entirely instead of educating the children from the village”

Further speaking, when asked, Mr. Philip, made the visitors know that the village has explored all avenues to stop such invasion but all effort was of no avail as the allottee has already fenced the school to begin possible demolition and development.

This is our ancestral home and we will do everything to protect our land. You see, we are doing everything to engage the services of those to help us do the fight. And for what we are sure of, there has never been previously government resettlement policy within our community, so this kind of invasion is quite unusual and contrary to the way government resettle the inhabitants”

Further lamenting, the villagers, maintained its leadership has sorted for help from various agencies including the LEA primary education authority, headquarters to save the only school within the villages as well as FCDA but of no true substance to save the school. this is the school we built by ourselves before handing it to the LEA to ensure government funding. So the school built in 2002, has since over a decade funded by the government. Neither do we hear of the school to another location nor channeling our children to another”

Chief Philip, while stressing the plight of the people, largely emphasized on non-presence of primary health care, as the villagers depend on patent medicine dealers for health care, a practice he had condemned is shot of modern health care system, he also indicated could sometimes result to an improper medical procedure or self-medication. He said there has not been good portable water for the people, as the people rely on the manually dogged boreholes which are harmful to human health.

At Dakwo village, the associate Parish Priest of Dakwo Catholic Church, Rev, fr. Keneth Agwu, whose poor members of his church benefited on the same day, showered commendations on the AUXANO Foundation, on its effort to tilting their efforts toward giving to the poorest of the poor.

The act is highly commendable, for them to come here to alleviate people from hunger, and for what you can see people from the major religious setting are here collecting food items without discrimination. And it does not matter how small. A gift means what comes from one’s heart. But I believe that those who are not reached today should be patient as they are to be remembered next time”

While addressing the media officially during the long day exercise, the founder of NGO and the Chief financier, Dr. Grace Babajide, said that the primary aim of the voluntary organization is to extend love and care for the less privileged in the society.

According to her, the association drives its fund from donor agencies and individual donors who make contacts with the organization through the web.

The World is remembering the life and personality of Dr. Nelson Mandela of South Africa today, which lived an exemplary life. The donor saw the work we have done before across the states and the FCT through the net and decided to contact us to make donations. I can tell you that we are just a group of like minds who pull our individual resources together to fund the organization. For 8 years we have been carrying the boarding ourselves without a sponsor”

On the life span of the organization, the medical practitioner said that the vision is to ensure that the NGO becomes an international agency that can work with others in like manner.

According to her, the projection is to build the voluntary organization as a globally recognized charity organization, with its branches all over the world more especially the less privileged countries of the world. She said that for the target to be achieved that the NGO will sooner than later engage staffs whose wages are within the capacity of the organization.

Commenting on the infidelity challenges bedeviling the operation of non-organization NGOs, presently in Nigeria, Dr. Grace Babajide, insisted that the group is not oblivion of the scenario as such has brought the operation of some NGOs to a stop and extinction. She said, “That is why we are taking our time to put a formidable structure in setting up the voluntary organization to an international level. It is also with the fear that we do not want to be associated with or identifies with this dubious intention”

Also commenting, Rev. fr. Johnson Igor, a member of the NGO and immediate elder brother to the founder, remarked that identifying with the organization has remained a relief since the month of July remains memorable in the life of the family owing to the death of their father, who spent his little wealth with the less privileged while living.

The 4th of February each year has remained memorable in our life. It is the Month our father left this World. “My younger sister has wanted to live behind a legacy. My father was a man who brought people together through his meager wealth while living. As you can see I am a priest, we don’t even have basic salary though we have allowances since COVID 19, it has been on hold. What we are doing here is out of passion and again giving out food which is a fundamental element in life.

While admonishing well-meaning Nigerians to embrace giving as a spiritual exercise and thanking the anonymous donor of the items giving said that there are blessings from God whenever gifts are extended to the poor, which does not take much out of the rich ones in the society.

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Business

Turning Africa’s Raw Materials Into Wealth: The ARMS 2026 Industrial Agenda

Published

4 days ago

September 29, 2026

The Gleamer

By Joel Ajayi

For decades, Africa’s vast natural resources have powered industries and economies far beyond the continent, while many African countries have remained largely exporters of unprocessed commodities and importers of finished products.

That familiar pattern is now coming under renewed scrutiny as policymakers, researchers, investors and industrialists seek to change the direction of Africa’s resource economy.

At the centre of that conversation is the second edition of the Africa Raw Materials Summit (ARMS 2026), scheduled for October 19 and 20 at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Abuja, under the theme: “From African Feedstock to African Factories.”

Organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), the summit is being positioned as more than another gathering of policymakers and industry stakeholders. It is intended to provide a platform for confronting the structural challenges that have kept African raw materials largely disconnected from local manufacturing.

Africa has for years operated largely within a “pit-to-port” economic model, exporting raw materials while importing expensive finished products.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the summit on Tuesday in Abuja, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso, said the event would bring together policymakers, investors, researchers, technology providers and industrialists to develop practical strategies for transforming Africa’s abundant natural resources into industrial wealth.

The challenge, therefore, is not simply the abundance of resources, but the continent’s ability to transform those resources into industrial value, employment, technology and wealth within Africa.

Nigeria alone, according to the RMRDC, has more than $582.4 billion in documented non-renewable natural resources, while the wider continent possesses substantial deposits of critical minerals, agricultural raw materials and industrial feedstock.

Yet, the benefits of this resource endowment have often been constrained by inadequate processing capacity, weak infrastructure, limited technology, financing gaps and fragmented regional value chains.

From Dialogue to Industrial Action

ARMS 2026 builds on the maiden edition held in May 2025, which attracted more than 1,000 delegates from across the world.

The inaugural summit also witnessed the unveiling of the Ten-Year Raw Materials Transformation Roadmap (2025–2034) by the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owen Enoh.

The roadmap was designed around areas including technological capability, climate-resilient processing and backward integration, establishing a policy framework for greater domestic utilisation of Africa’s raw materials.

The second edition is expected to move the conversation further by bringing policy, capital, technology and industrial stakeholders around practical mechanisms for turning raw materials into locally manufactured products.

One of the major proposals highlighted by the RMRDC is the 30 per cent Mandatory Value Addition Bill, which seeks to establish a statutory minimum level of value addition to Nigerian raw materials before export.

The Council says the proposed framework could support job creation, import substitution, foreign-exchange conservation and increased manufacturing contribution to the economy.

Building the Infrastructure for Value Addition

The industrial transformation envisaged by ARMS 2026 goes beyond legislation.

A major concern is the “missing middle” between where raw materials are produced and where factories are located.

Poor transportation networks, inadequate cold-chain facilities, weak rural roads, limited testing and certification infrastructure and border-related delays can make locally sourced materials more expensive and less competitive.

Consequently, logistics and infrastructure constitute one of the five principal pillars of the summit.

The objective is to develop more reliable corridors connecting farms and mines with processing centres and manufacturing facilities, thereby reducing losses and improving the movement of industrial inputs.

The Digital Dimension

Technology is also becoming an important part of the Council’s strategy.

The RMRDC says it has developed the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP), described as a digital repository containing information on feedstock deposits, specifications, production outputs and industrial absorption rates.

The Council has also highlighted its transition towards paperless operations and its certification as a Data Controller/Processor of Major Importance by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

Such digital infrastructure could provide investors and manufacturers with better information about the availability and characteristics of raw materials while supporting more informed industrial planning.

Turning Waste Into Industrial Inputs

Another major component of ARMS 2026 is the proposed expansion of the circular economy.

The summit will examine how agricultural by-products, mine tailings, scrap metals and biomass can be recovered and reused as inputs for new production processes rather than being treated simply as waste.

The RMRDC argues that such an approach could lower raw-material costs while supporting more sustainable and climate-resilient manufacturing systems.

For Africa, where industrial expansion must increasingly balance economic development with environmental considerations, waste industrialisation could become an important part of the continent’s manufacturing conversation.

From National Production to African Value Chains

The African Continental Free Trade Area is another important element of the summit’s agenda.

The RMRDC sees AfCFTA as an opportunity to create regional value chains in which raw materials sourced in one African country can be processed and supplied to manufacturers in another.

Under such a model, Africa would move beyond simply exporting commodities to external markets and develop stronger internal networks for supplying chemicals, refined minerals, agricultural inputs and other industrial materials across national borders.

This approach places regional integration at the heart of Africa’s industrialisation strategy.

Bridging Research and Capital

A recurring weakness in many developing economies is the gap between research and commercialisation.

Innovations may emerge from universities, research institutions and laboratories without receiving the financing, equipment or market connections required to become commercially viable.

ARMS 2026 intends to address that gap through technology commercialisation and capital linkages, connecting research outputs with investors, development finance institutions and industrial off-takers.

The RMRDC has also cited partnerships with the Bank of Industry for commercial-scale post-harvest processing and a South-South technology-transfer partnership with the National Innovation Centre par Excellence in Shanghai, China.

A Larger Industrial Conversation

The scale of ARMS 2026 is expected to be significantly larger than the maiden edition.

The organisers project more than 1,800 delegates from all 54 African countries and global industrial partners.

The programme will feature high-level policy dialogues, technical panels, an advanced raw materials and technology exhibition, industrial site visits and the African Raw Materials Industry Awards.

The exhibition, in particular, is expected to showcase locally fabricated processing machinery, advanced domestic materials, green chemicals and engineered commercial inputs.

Beyond the speeches and exhibitions, however, the real significance of ARMS 2026 will ultimately depend on what happens after the summit.

Africa’s challenge has never been a shortage of raw materials. The more difficult question has been how to transform those resources into factories, products, skilled employment, technology and sustainable economic opportunities.

For Nigeria and the rest of the continent, the proposed shift from “pit-to-port” to “feedstock-to-factory” therefore represents a broader debate about the future structure of African economies.

ARMS 2026 seeks to place that debate firmly on the industrial agenda — with value addition, technology, finance, infrastructure, circular production and regional trade at the centre.

If the commitments and partnerships generated by the summit translate into measurable industrial activity, the event could provide another platform for Africa to examine how its enormous resource base can support stronger domestic manufacturing.

The message from the organisers is clear: the continent’s raw materials should not only leave African soil as commodities; they should increasingly become the foundation for African industrial production

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