Business
RMRDC Legislative Bill To Ensure Minimum 30% Raw Materials Value Addition Before Export Passes 2nd Reading
By Stella Azi
The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) Bill before the Senate of the National Assembly, to ensure local processing of at least 30% raw materials before export scales 2nd reading Today, Tuesday, December 10, 2024.
The Local Raw Materials Protection draft legislative Bill, sponsored by Senator Nwebonyi Onyeka Peter, from Ebonyi North Senatorial District, is imperative for fostering Nigeria’s industrial growth and development through value addition locally. The Bill seeks to amend the RMRDC Act 2022 to prioritise domestic production and local manufacturing.
During the plenary session at the Senate sitting, Senator Onyeka argued that the draft Bill when passed to law, would transform the national economy by boosting local manufacturing, create job opportunities, reduce import dependence, and ease pressure on foreign exchange demands.
The Senator said that Bill will regulate the importation of raw materials that could have been processed locally, thereby boosting competitiveness and creating a favourable environment for local industries to flourish.
“Promoting local processing to a minimum of 30% or more will add value to our economy, … It will also encourage innovation within local industries, leading to a significant increase in domestic production”, he said.
At its second reading, the Raw Material Protection Bill received overwhelming support of by the House. The Deputy Senate Minority leader, Senator Lere Oyewumi raised concern on the practicality of the Bill; considering raw materials processors who lack capacity for local processing. He stated that strict enforcement may affect manufacturers who rely on import of such raw materials therefore, resulting to lose. He argued that such scenario be taken into consideration.
Earlier, during a chat with journalists, the Director General and Chief Executive officer RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso had noted that the Bill seeks to fortify Nigeria’s Local manufacturing sector, reduce dependency on imports and ensure sustainable economic development, through the promotion of local processing and value addition to the nation’s raw materials resources.
He further noted that, when passed, the Bill will ensure that no raw materials are exported without undergoing a minimum of 30% processing locally, adding that this significant stride in national raw materials and manufacturing policy reform will provide Nigerians with more forex for raw materials sourcing, protect natural our resources, and catalyse domestic processing capabilities in the country.
Business
FG Invests Over $450 Million In CNG – PCNGi
Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative ,PCNGi, yesterday said that it had invested more than 450 million U.S Dollars in the Compressed Natural Gas ,CNG, value chain.Mr Michael Oluwagbemi, Project Director and Chief Executive Officer ,CEO, PCNGi, disclosed this during the 9th Edition of the Nigeria Energy Forum ,NEF2024, Day 2, Virtual Event in Lagos.
The theme of the 9th Edition of NEF is: “Energising Sustainable Industrialisation”.According to the PCNGi CEO, the amount goes into things like mother stations, daughter stations and refueling stations as well as conversion centres which are starting to spring up across the nation.Oluwagbemi, who was represented by Mr Tosin Coker, the Head of Commercial, PCNGi, said the initiative had successfully converted more than 10,000 vehicles from petrol to CNG.“By 2027, the initiative will have converted more than one million vehicles using petrol to CNG”, he said.On incidents of explosion of vehicles using CNG, the CEO assured Nigerians that it had taken precautionary measures with different agencies of government to ensure safety.
Mrs Ibironke Olubamise, National Coordinator of the GEF Small Grants Programme ,SGP, managed by UNDP, said the SGP was investing in youth energy innovation for economic growth and environmental sustainability.Dr Daniel Adeuyi, NEF Group Chairman, said “the event featured three super sessions on Energising Industrial Revolution, Community Climate Action by GEF-SGP UNDP and Clean Energy Innovations.
“The sessions are to share lessons learnt from real life projects and build capacity of young entrepreneurs and cross-industry professionals”.Mr Joseph Osanipin, the Director General, National Automotive Design and Development Council ,NADDC, said that the council had trained more than 4,000 auto technicians on how to convert petrol vehicles to CNG.He said the council had started campaigns to sensitise Nigerians on the advantages of using CNG to power their vehicles. “CNG can guarantee cleaner environment, it is cheaper and affordable”, he said.Mr Oluwatobi Ajayi, the Chairman and Managing Director, Nord Automobile Ltd., said the company was established to tackle the growing demand for vehicles in Africa and reduce import dependency.He said that because of the Federal Government’s CNG initiative, the company had incorporated it into their vehicle production to meet up with the government policy.Dr Armstrong Tankan, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Finance Incorporated ,MOFI, said that MOFI was set up in 1959 as the statutory vehicle to hold all the assets owned by the federal government.
“Today, we’ve been able to identify the assets the federal government owns and we are trying to track them.‘We actually do have assets, not just locally but globally as well and it’s very important that we establish visibility over what the federal government owns before we can start talking about managing them.“So, we want to try to minimise the waste, minimise the overlaps and help to improve output”, he said.
Engr. Adekunle Makinde, NEF Co-chair, said, “the 9th Africa Energy Innovation Challenge ,AEIC, attracted over 140 entries from 25 different countries across Africa, with over 99% of entries as first-time participants.
“The 2024 AEIC has GEF-SGP UNDP as principal supporter, with Afrexim Bank and Oando Clean Energy Ltd. as co-supporters.“The top three winners of the youth innovation contest were awarded grant prizes to upscale and deploy the innovative energy solutions across real life applications.
“The first prize of N2 million was awarded to solar-powered dehydrators for agro-processing.“The second prize of N1.5 million was awarded to irrigation loop by Thinpower, while the third prize of N1 million went to solar powered irrigation and cold storage for farmers”, Makinde said
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