RMRDC pledges partnership with Nigerians in Diaspora

RMRDC pledges partnership with Nigerians in Diaspora

Partnership
By Tolu Aiyegbusi
Abuja, March 2, 2019 (NAN) The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) has pledged to partner the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, Europe (NIDOE) to ensure best practice in raw materials production and processing.
This is contained in a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday by RMRDC’s Director of press and publicity, Mr Chuks Ngaha.
He stated that the diaspora organisation paid a courtesy visit to the Council’s headquarters in Abuja, seeking to work with the Council in making the nations’ raw material products standard and acceptable by the international market.
According to the statement, the Director-General, RMRDC, Prof. Husseini Ibrahim, stated that the partnership was important for the council and the country so as to make raw materials processing meet international standards.
Ibrahim reaffirmed that the gap in products production processes was indeed a big challenge to achieving standard and should be corrected.
He said that one problem with exportation in Nigeria was lack of well-established structures and neglect for best practices in process development.
He briefed the guests on the mandate of the Council to promote development of local raw materials for industrial growth, thereby promoting economic dependence and nation-building.
He stated that the Council was building a laboratory that would identify values and specifications of raw materials in Nigeria which would in turn facilitate value addition and bring about standardisation.
He also stated that the Council was an official member of the National Competitiveness Strategy Committee (NCSC).
“ NCSC has the responsibility to look into exportation of indigenous products with a view to ensuring compliance to international standards and driving Nigeria’s competitiveness in raw materials and products development,’’ he said.
Speaking during the visit, a leader of the team from NIDOE, Mr Godson Azu, informed the council that United Kingdom (UK) had market for Nigerian products, but the challenge was that the products failed to meet international standards.
According to Azu, some Nigerian products are either shipped illegally into Europe or exported by neighbouring countries such as Ghana and Cameroon, whereas, when attempts were made to export them legally from Nigeria, they would be termed substandard products.
“ This problem is self-inflicted and unfortunate; Nigerians not having their products as mainstream in the UK market has become a thing of concern to Nigerians in diaspora.
“Consequently, the organisation has come to seek partnership with relevant stakeholders to solve the challenge of non-exportation of local products and promote its distribution abroad.’’
TOLU/NNO/DCU
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Edited by Nick Nicholas/Donald Ugwu