CBN Pledges Collaboration with RMRDC on 30% Processing of Commodity Exports

–         Receives Corporate Social Performance Award

 Nume Ekeghe and Dike Onwuamaeze

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pledged to collaborate with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) to realise the council’s quest to achieve 30 per cent processing of raw materials before they are exported from Nigeria.

The Director, Statistics Department of the CBN, Dr. Usman Okpanachi, made this pledge yesterday in Lagos during the 10th anniversary of The Bullion Lecture organised by the Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ), where the CBN also received an award for outstanding Corporate Social Performance.

Okpanachi said that the apex bank would focus on strengthening data systems, policy coordination, and stakeholder engagement in its bid to improve investment in the raw materials ecosystem.

He said the bank’s role would centre on enabling an improved operating environment rather than direct intervention, noting that credible data and partnerships remained essential to Nigeria’s reform agenda.

“We’re making progress, and I think it’s important for us to recognise that it is not when we are at the level of the final outcome that we could judge ourselves as successful. We may not be there yet, but hopefully this becomes law, and it will be a game changer,” he said.

He stressed that strengthening data infrastructure is central in harnessing the country’s raw materials, adding that improved coordination with stakeholders would help support broader policy effectiveness across sectors.

On private sector participation, Okpanachi said the CBN is open to collaboration aimed at reducing perceived risks in the raw materials space and improving investment flows into processing and manufacturing.

“We have some experience in this area through our previous engagement, development finance and various value chains. 

“Again, on this, I think for us, it’s something that is of interest and I would also commit on the part of the bank that we will be ready to partner with you, share with you our lessons and experience and see how that can be put to use towards de-risking that space, the raw material space, so that we can then begin to see investment in that space, and then interest and participation by the private sector, which is all what we want to see,” he said.

The push for value addition was further reinforced by the Director-General of the RMRDC, Professor Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, who said that Nigeria’s long-term growth depends on shifting from raw commodity exports to industrial processing.

Delivering the 2026 Bullion Lecture themed “From Resources to Prosperity: How Raw Materials Development, Value Addition and Innovation Can Catalyse Nigeria’s Industrial Renaissance,” Ike-Muonso said that industrialisation remained the most reliable pathway to Nigeria’s sustainable prosperity.

“The way to prosperity is to industrialise and of course, plus the number of other things that will go together with that industrialisation like raw materials development, value addition, and innovation,” he said.

He said Nigeria must institutionalise value addition through a legislation that would mandate a minimum level of processing before exports.

“So I went for the deal that no one exports raw materials out of this country unless you have minimum processing up to 30 per cent,” he said.

He added that the proposal is designed to ensure value retention within the economy, while discouraging the export of unprocessed commodities.

“And that none would import any raw material into this country unless we declare that it is scarce. If we have that, we shouldn’t import them. We shouldn’t bring them in.

“For me, this legislation is the single most important thing I would have done because I know that that is the pathway to prosperity,” he said.

He warned that continued reliance on raw commodity exports would limit Nigeria’s development prospects. “If we rest on where we are today, we can never be like any nation that is developed in the world,” he said.

According to him, value chain development is critical to job creation, income growth, and exchange rate stability. 

“The logic is understood that the way to go is to develop the value chain. From extraction to processing to manufacturing to export,” he said.

He added that each stage of processing adds economic value and strengthens macroeconomic resilience. 

“Because each stage multiplies value and creates job, income and more importantly too, helps us in managing the exchange rate,” he said.

The Chairman of the occasion, Hon. Dele Kelvin Oye, said that global geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions are exposing Nigeria’s vulnerability as an import-dependent economy.

Oye said the development should serve as a catalyst for stronger domestic production and value chain development.

“We must accelerate our transition from a consumption-driven economy to a production-driven one. 

“By localising our supply chains, enhancing our domestic manufacturing capabilities, and fiercely pursuing value addition, we can insulate our economy from external shocks and secure the livelihoods of our citizens,” he said.

Oye, who was the immediate past president of Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, said that recent policy directions, including export restrictions on raw shea nuts and proposed legislation on minimum value addition, reflected a shift towards industrial policy reforms.

Earlier, Chairman of the Centre for Financial Journalism, Professor Akpan Hogan Ekpo, said that The Bullion Lecture has evolved into a key platform for policy discourse, bringing together policymakers, academics, and industry stakeholders to address Nigeria’s structural economic challenges.