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Nigerian Navy will continue to support NOSDRA – Navy Chief

Published

7 years ago

May 22, 2019

The Nigerian Navy has said that it will continue to support the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to curb the menace of oil spills in the country.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas said this when the D-G of NOSDRA and some of his Directors paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday in Abuja.

Acvording to him, we have been addressing the consequences of oil spill that we all know that are deliberately caused by criminals and saboteurs.

“There is hardly a day that passes without the Navy shutting down illegal refineries as well as vandalised pipes and abandoned oil well.

“Because if these criminals do not have the means of getting the oil it will slow down their effort at attempting to steal and refine the products’’.

Ibas congratulates the agency for the wonderful job they have been doing.

“ The efforts you have carried out is noble, I want to assure you that when you need us, rest assured that we will provide the needed support.

“The Navy have been partnering with your agency and we have concerned in the devastation of oil spills in the country.

“The statistics and the records we have show that something serious need to be done therefore we must come together to address the menace being done in the environment.

the Navy Chief, however solicited for the support of all stakeholder in keeping the environment safe and secured.

“It’s a campaign that we are going to solicit the support of all stakeholders to be able to address the menace,’’ he said.

Earlier, the D-G of NOSDRA, Mr Idris Musa said that the agency has been embarking on consultations to sensitise the people of the communities on the dangers and implications of oil spills.

“We want to let the community people to understand what dangers there are in the case of oil spill: when oil spills, it goes into the rivers that they drink or use for domestic purposes.

“It also goes to farmland, to the creeks and to the fish, all of these places are places are endangered and we need them all the time to sustain our daily livelihood.

“It destroys the environment, endangers your life as a person and cause some social and economic dislocation to the community where you come from and Nigeria at large’’.

He said that the agency will continue to consult and give details on the issues of disaster that is awaiting if communities do not stop or point fingers at people who engage in the criminal activities.

“We are going to be discussing with the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, Major Oil Marketers of Nigeria, and the Depot Marketers Association of Nigeria.

“We want to let them our next line of action so that when we get to them it won’t be strange to them.

“We will sensitise them and get them to understand what role they should play to avoid polluting ground wate: because ground water remediation is very costly, more difficult and takes more time, so we need to begin to sensitise them in these areas too’’.

The D-G, however solicited the support of the Navy, saying, we have been having a lot of challenges especially on our water ways, the creeks and creek lets in the Niger-Delta.

“We do not want to be having oil spills all the time because our vision is to have a Zero tolerance to oil spill.

“It’s unfortunate that in spite of the efforts, we still see some of these criminals finding their ways into our water ways to puncture our pipe lines.

“The recent case is in April where the 24inch and the 28inch Trans-Niger pipelines were cut by some miscreants and another one in Ondo state, the fire is still burning now as we speak’’.

He therefore asked for more support from the Navy to have a very safe and conducive environment.

“ Noting the way we now operate and most of our oil companies are moving off shore and land shore, we now see that the task of maintain a very secure marine environment cannot be over emphasized.

“So we want to make sure that the custodians of the National Oil Spill Contingency plan are in touch with all our major stakeholders. (NAN)

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Business

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

Published

2 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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