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Dr. Ibrahim, Mr. Olawande Are Round Pegs In Round Holes

Published

3 years ago

October 17, 2023

By Joel Ajayi

The news of the appointment of two vibrant young Nigerians as Ministers of Youths Development must be commended by all Nigerians.

This choice indeed was a departure from the past and a pragmatic approach to the development of the country and betterment of our country.

Appointment no doubt remains a confirmation of the commitment of the present government under the able leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to bringing on board proficient, committed, and fit individuals into his administration, especially in the Ministry of Youth remains an assurance that anyone can take to the bank any time any day.

This shows that President Tinubu during the campaign promised to give youth a place in his government and meant his words by bringing Nigerians who have the ability to do the job for the overall benefit of the people.

Just on last Monday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu swore in 37 years Dr. Jamila Ibrahim and 34-year-old Mr Ayodele Olawande, inaugurated to steer the ship of the Ministry of Youth in the country, as Ministers of Youth respectively.

In the history of the appointment of a Minister to the Youth Ministry, this will be the first time we have real right young people at the helm of affairs of the youth in the country.

Dr. Ibrahim is an indigene of Kwara State, a medical doctor, politician, and development strategist. A strong advocate of the United Nations Global Goals. She served as a Senior Special Assistant on Health matters to the Governor of Kwara State.

Also, Dr. Jamila Ibrahim served in various capacities as a humanitarian volunteer, including in the North East region of Nigeria on the platform of The Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative, PCNI. Where she deployed her energy, helped, and provided support to the vulnerable and internally displaced persons IDPs.

On the other hand, , Mr Ayodele Olawande now Minister of State is an indigene of Ondo State and was born in 1989 and raised in Lagos State.

Mr Olawande remains the youngest Minister in the Bola Tinubu-led cabinet.
He is an active youth mobilizer, especially for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo and Lagos States and he was appointed as the Youth Coordinator for the APC Lagos State Chapter.

And later the new Minister of State for Youth was the founder of the Action Youth Movement, AYM, and later the ICT director for Ondo APC.

Mr. Olawande is a community development expert and a dynamic youth leader who has served in various capacities in the public and private sectors.

Without a doubt, Mr Olawande has worked tirelessly to engage young people in the political process, encouraging them to voice their concerns and actively participate in shaping the nation’s future.

This is really from the beginning demonstrating his administration’s commitment to good governance by bringing on board credible Nigerians from any part of the country to assist him with the onerous tasks of taking Nigerians to the renewed hope dispensation.

However, many stakeholders have postulated that the combination of these two vibrant and young Ministers will go a long way in bringing hope to many young Nigerians who have no hope.

Without wasting time as they assumed office on last Monday, the first thing they did was to call on stakeholders in the country to collaborate with the ministry to boost youth development in the country.

She urged the staff to work with them to drive the Renewed Hope Agenda of Tinubu as it concerns youth development.

She said: “I hope that we will come together united as one family to drive the Renewed Hope vision of His Excellency, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Our jobs have been cut out for us, and we understand that when we say development, It means that holistic review, it has to be a holistic approach to development and I believe that is the mandate.

“I am setting the mandate of youth ministry, what Youth Development Ministry says and this is not time to make policy statements, because, first of all, we want everyone to know where we stand as a ministry and then we work together to design for where wherever you need to go on that note. I want to seek and appeal to you, let us work together.

“Let me and my colleagues work together to serve you. As leadership is not about giving orders, we are here as well as servants, we are the servants of youths as political heads representing Mr. President and every member of this ministry by bureaucratic rights is a servant of the Nigerian Youth”, she said.

On his own, the Minister of State for Youth Development, Mr. Ayodele Olawande, expressed his gratitude and blessings to the management and staff of the Ministry of Youth Development.
Of truth, President Bola Tinubu must be commended for going above petty political considerations and recruiting the most suitable candidate for this critical office that is indeed critical to the smooth running of government.

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Strategic Partnerships, Diaspora Investment and Improved Workforce Critical to Industrialization-DG RMRDC

Published

2 days ago

November 12, 2026

The Gleamer

By: Stella Azi and Adaora Adibe

The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has called for a strategic shift from the exportation of raw commodities to domestic processing, manufacturing and value addition, declaring that Nigeria possesses enormous untapped raw material resources capable of driving industrialisation, creating jobs and strengthening the country’s economic competitiveness.

Prof. Ike-Muonso made this submission in a lecture titled Unlocking Nigeria’s Raw Material Value Chain for Industrialization, Manufacturing and Competitiveness, where he presented an extensive assessment of Nigeria’s resource endowments, industrial challenges and emerging investment opportunities across agricultural commodities, solid minerals and waste-based raw materials.

The lecture highlighted a combined US$2.65 trillion global market opportunity across 30 major raw material value chains, comprising 12 agricultural value chains valued at US$932 billion, 11 mineral value chains worth US$1.352 trillion and seven circular-economy value chains estimated at US$366 billion.

According to the RMRDC Boss, Nigeria must move beyond the traditional approach of extracting and exporting raw materials to building competitive domestic industries that transform these resources into intermediate products, industrial inputs and finished goods for local consumption and international markets.

He observed that the country’s manufacturing sector has struggled to sustain its 2014 peak, with its contribution to real Gross Domestic Product declining from 9.64 per cent in 2014 to 8.05 per cent in 2025, representing a 16.5 per cent decline. He also drew attention to the increasing cost of raw material imports, which rose to US$20.5 billion in 2025, approximately six times the 2020 level.

He explained that the growing dependence on imported industrial inputs exposes Nigerian manufacturers to foreign exchange volatility, increases production costs and weakens the competitiveness of locally manufactured products.

Prof. ke-Muonso stressed that the solution lies in developing domestic raw material value chains through deliberate investment in processing facilities, research and development, technology, infrastructure and stronger linkages between producers, processors and manufacturers.

He identified agriculture, solid minerals and industrial waste as three major resource platforms for Nigeria’s industrial transformation, stating the country’s significant production capacity and the enormous opportunities available for downstream processing.

Ike-Muonso noted that Nigeria produces over 63 million metric tonnes of cassava annually, making it the world’s largest producer, while also maintaining strong positions in cocoa, cashew, sesame, palm oil and cotton. However, more than 80 per cent of agricultural output leaves farms without adequate processing, resulting in the loss of significant economic value and industrial opportunities.

In the solid minerals sector, he identified more than 44 commercially viable minerals across over 500 locations, including lithium, gold, barite, bitumen, iron ore and high-grade limestone, describing them as strategic resources capable of supporting steel production, energy storage, electrification and advanced manufacturing.

The DG further drew attention to Nigeria’s industrial and agro-waste resources, noting that the country generates over 32 million tonnes of solid waste annually. He explained that agricultural residues, cassava peels, scrap metals, plastics and electronic waste could serve as important feedstock for bio-fertilisers, industrial chemicals, recycled polymers, energy production and other manufacturing applications.

In the agricultural sector, the DG identified cassava and industrial starch, cotton and natural textiles, natural rubber and elastomers, oil palm and oleochemicals, maize derivatives and cocoa processing as priority areas requiring increased investment.

He explained that processing agricultural commodities into industrial starch, sweeteners, textiles, technical rubber, specialty fats and other intermediate products would enable Nigeria to capture more value from its agricultural resources while reducing dependence on imported industrial inputs.

For the minerals sector, he highlighted crude oil-to-olefins and petrochemicals, lithium and energy storage, iron ore and steel, rare earth elements, bauxite and aluminium, and copper and electrification as strategic investment opportunities.

He particularly emphasised the importance of moving beyond mineral extraction into beneficiation, refining, battery precursors, industrial chemicals, metal fabrication and advanced materials production.

On the circular economy, Prof. Ike-Muonso identified electronic waste recovery, scrap metal recycling, plastic waste processing, agro-waste valorisation and battery recycling as emerging industrial opportunities.

He explained that transforming waste into productive industrial feedstock would not only reduce environmental pollution but also create new manufacturing industries, generate employment and reduce the importation of valuable industrial materials.

He noted that to address the structural challenges confronting raw material-based industrialisation, the DG highlighted the strategic interventions of the RMRDC, particularly the proposed 30% Value Addition Bill and the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP).

He described the 30% Value Addition Bill as an important policy instrument designed to encourage domestic processing of raw materials before export, strengthen local manufacturing capacity and guarantee access to essential raw materials for Nigerian industries, and NISSRAMP as a critical data infrastructure that would improve access to verified information on the availability, location and quality of raw materials.

According to him, the combination of appropriate policy instruments and reliable resource data would help de-risk investments, improve transparency and strengthen confidence in Nigeria’s raw material sector.

He emphasised the importance of collaboration among government, academia and industry in developing bankable projects, sharing investment risks and accelerating the establishment of processing and manufacturing facilities.

Professor Ike-Muonso called on Nigerians in the diaspora and other local and international investors to take advantage of the opportunities available in Nigeria’s raw material sector.

He identified industrial processing parks, mineral beneficiation and refining, agro-industrial platforms, circular-material processing, industrial input manufacturing and enabling infrastructure as viable investment platforms.

He noted that diaspora investors could contribute beyond financial capital by bringing technology, international business networks, governance standards, technical expertise and access to global markets.

He maintained that Nigeria’s industrial transformation requires coordinated investment across the entire value chain, from raw material sourcing and aggregation to processing, manufacturing, certification and export development.

Professor Ike-Muonso stressed that the country’s industrial future would depend not merely on the volume of raw materials extracted but on the capacity to transform them into competitive products that meet domestic and international market requirements.

He maintained that developing local value chains would stimulate industrial growth, create employment opportunities, diversify exports, conserve foreign exchange and deepen Nigeria’s technological capabilities.

Through its strategic interventions, the RMRDC is positioning itself as a critical bridge between resource availability, investment opportunities and industrial competitiveness, with the ultimate objective of transforming Nigeria from a predominantly raw material exporting economy into a strong manufacturing and value-adding nation.

Ike-Muonso has demonstrated this since assumption of office as the Director General/ CEO RMRDC in the area of capacity building, improved working conditions, promotion of merit, and maintaining a conducive environment that rewards excellence, innovation and dedication. This is evident in his institution of RMRDC training school, reward for winners of the RMRDC innovation challenge among others.

His commitment has brought recognition both nationally and internationally: Al-Jazirah double honour awards as Public Servant /Government Agency of the year 2024-2025 and the recent election as the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Representative on the Board of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organisations (WAITRO) is a attestation to his commitment.

Concluding the lecture, the DG charged staff, researchers, manufacturers and investors to see themselves as nation builders in the new era of raw materials-led industrialization.

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