Far from being among indolent research institutes in the country, the Raw Material Research Development Council, is living up to its billing as the handmaid of the Nigerian industrial sector, writes Dike Onwuamaeze
It was dubbed West Africa’s largest manufacturing, equipment and raw material event. The event was the Manufacturing and Equipment Expo and Nigerian Raw Materials Exposition with the theme “Future Manufacturing: A Roadmap to an Enabling Environment with Sustainable Industrialisation.” It was organised last month in Lagos by the Manufacturers Association f Nigeria (MAN) and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC).
Its message was that the environment is changing and putting pressure on the industrial sector that no manufacturer would afford to ignore in the emerging new manufacturing realities.
Setting the ball rolling was the Minister of Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Mr. Uche Nnaji, who stated in his welcome address the event’s two major purposes. The first was to deepen local raw materials sourcing by the manufacturers for sustainable industrial development in Nigeria. The second objective was to serve as a critical window to embrace machinery and equipment to produce goods, support sustainable development and ensure that Nigeria would not be dependent on developed nations.
According to Nnaji, it is a well-known dictum that any country that would not stand its developmental efforts on science, technology and innovation would not expect the dividend of socio-economic rejuvenation. This underscores the indispensable need to deploy a demand-driven research and development solution for industrialisation that is built on the unrelenting efforts of the organised private sector of the economy.
Nnaji said: “The RMRDC is exemplifying this by its adherence to the development and promotion of pilot agricultural and mineral raw materials as well as process equipment that meet the requirements of manufacturing industries.
“Recently, I paid a working visit to the Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) of the RMRDC. I was impressed with the work the council has done to facilitate Nigeria’s economic diversification initiative and manufacturing contribution to GDP.
“The centre provides a platform for technology adoption, adaptation and transfer for agricultural and mineral raw materials process technology in Nigeria.
“This is a testament to my ministry’s unwavering commitment to ensuring competitiveness in raw materials and products development. The centre offers a window for industrial/academic research as it relates to raw materials development and utilisation in Nigeria.
“The centre also serves as a one-stop process technology outlay that showcases equipment, processes, instrumentation, etc. that a potential investor or an entrepreneur could take up in areas of agricultural and minerals processing.
“In line with this and with the strategic implementation of the Presidential Executive Order No. 5, my ministry, through the RMRDC, has commenced the process for the establishment and replication of the centre across the six geo-political zones to allow for even development of resource-based industrialisation and encourage local production of raw materials where Nigeria has the wherewithal and competitive advantage over and above other nations of the world.
“I urge industrialists and investors to replicate the process technologies showcased at the centre at commercial scale for increased manufacturing activities, more so that their feasibility and viability as well as the capability of Nigerian engineers to design and fabricate process equipment have been demonstrated. Secondary and tertiary raw materials produced locally will reduce dependence on importation and conserve foreign exchange.”
Indeed, the expo was an opportunity for the RMRDC to showcase its numerous research products that would aid local sourcing of raw materials for the Nigerian industrial sector.
A Deputy Director of RMRDC, Mr. Sirajo Musa, an engineer who is also in charge of council’s TIC, told THISDAY that the RMRDC has about 45 pilot plants for the demonstration of the commercial viability of its research products.
Indeed, there is enough evidence on ground to prove that the RMRDC has done much to provide raw materials for Nigerian pharmaceutical, paint and chemical and allied industries as well as the bludgeoning automobile industry. “Our task is to develop the raw materials and demonstrate their viability through our mini-plants projects but it is for businesses in the private sector to commercialise them through mass production for Nigerian and export markets,” Musa said.
Some of the manufacturing firms that have shown interest for partnership with the RMRDC included Emzor, Unilever, Greenleaf, NASCO, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, Greenleaf as well as the totality of the paint making industry.
The Greenleaf that is based in Kano has partnered with the council’s phytomedicines research where the RMRDC has produced supplements derived from Nigerian herbs. These include Gascar D, which is a medication for sugar related ailments like diabetes. “We have Gascar N that is a medication for blood pressure and stress. Then we have the phytobiotics, which is like antibiotic, for the treatment of bacterial infections. Then we have the phytoherb-5vits, which is a multivitamins derived from local herbs, for boosting immunity. At the moment the drugs are on sale in Healthmedics in Abuja to show that it is highly accepted,” Musa said.
Apart from the chemicals that the RMRDC have developed, the council has also formulated key critical inputs like Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) for manufacturing industry. Musa explained that every drug has two components. The API is the component of the drug that is for the treatment ailments. “We will be having a meeting on Monday (November 27) with the pharmaceutical group of MAN in Lagos. They gave us a task to research and come up with a pain reliever from local herbs, which we have done.
“We are also having a discussion with Emzor on the development of Artemisia, which is an API. Artemisia does not grow in Nigeria. It is a plant that grows wild in Vietnam. We were able to get the seeds and domesticated them in Nigeria. We have planted it in Kano State, Niger State and the FCT as sample farms to see whether it could grow very well. To our greatest surprise in the past two years we noticed that it has been growing very well and even better than in Vietnam where we got the seedlings from.
“It grows only once in a season in Vietnam but it grows in two seasons in Nigeria both in the dry and wet seasons. When we analysed it to know the percentage of Artemisia inside the Artemisia anua, the one grown in Nigeria is above 86 per cent and that of Vietnam is just 70 per cent,” Musa said.
The good news about this breakthrough, according to him, is that Nigeria is emerging as a potential market for China and India that used to import Artemisia from Vietnam to produce Artemisia based drugs. Based on this also Emzor asked for a collaboration with the RMRDC.
Currently, the council has designed, developed and installed a plant for the production of Artemisia in Abuja where production would commence very soon. “We need to patent the research output that we have started with the patent office in Abuja. Our discussion with Emzor will facilitate this project,” Musa disclosed.
The RMRDC has also produced lovastatin from mushroom that could be used as an API to produce drugs for cardiovascular diseases. It production is being tested and would soon be commercialised.
Hydrating lime is a secondary raw material that is derived from limestone and could be used in water treatment, in steel manufacturing, in sugar refining, and in so many other treatments.
The best quality limestone in the world is found in Nigeria. Yet, no single industry in Nigeria is processing it to produce hydrated lime for the steel rolling mills in Oshogbo, Jos and Kaduna to use as flux. These mills are importing a bag of 50kg hydrated lime at N17,000.
“There is a saying that for any country to develop technologically it needs a steel plant. And for any steel plant to stand very well it must have hydrated lime plant. If you check around the world, all industries that are producing steel have an inbuilt hydrated lime plant because they need it. Even the Ajaokuta plant, though not on stream, also have hydrated line plant.
“Eighteen states in Nigeria have limestone of very high quality that we are not using for anything apart from cement making. We should add value to them to create employment and save foreign exchange.
“However, in line with its mandate the RMRDC designed a small plant that can produce 10 tons per day. We want stakeholders in the manufacturing sector to come on board and pick up the products and commercialise it. We already have patent for them,” Musa said.
One of the major beneficiaries of RMRDC’s output is the paint manufacturers. Although raw materials for paint production are many, the council identified four raw materials that are being imported, which Nigeria has advantage and tried to develop them. One of them is Kaolin that is available in about seven states in Nigeria in high commercial quantity that could be developed to replace titanium dioxide.
He said: “Initially when we started the R&D, the paint manufacturers told us that it was not possible. We told them that there is no problem since it is a matter of science and engineering. Later they were amazed when they saw our samples. As we speak now we have substitute for titanium dioxide in paint making.”
Soap manufacturing firms are also enjoying the benefits from RMRDC’s efforts that delivered a process for producing soap noodle in Nigeria. Soap noodle is the basic raw material used in large scale production of soap. The demand for it in Nigeria is very high. But the domestic production of soap noodle is low opening the door for its importation. Now, a plant for local production of soap noodle has been fabricated by the council for the private sector to commercialise.
In the same manner, a pilot plant for multi chemicals that could utilise copper wire to get copper sulphate has been developed by the RMRDC. It is used as a dye in the textile industry, fertilizer and pesticide for treatment of woods. The plant could also produce aluminum sulphate and iron sulphate. That is why it is called a multi chemical plant.
Nigeria is endowed with talc that is used as filler in the pharmaceutical industry. It is also used in fertilizer, food, agriculture, powder and paper making. Kebbi State has the purest form of it. But it comes with contamination with other ores that required a mechanism to remove.
“What the council did, especially during COVID, when we were getting high price from abroad for talc, was to develop the separation of contamination. Unilever gave us the challenge and we developed filter process that remove the iron sulphate that is used in match industry. We have an investor in Abuja that is called Santara and very soon will start supplying to companies like Unilever. This is our target,” Musa said.
Caustic soda and Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) are two important raw materials that are not produced in Nigeria. But the council has fabricated a plant in Abuja for their production with capacity to produce 250 litres per day. Soda is used in crude oil refining, soap making, paper making, water treatment, construction and in textile.
NASCO, which is located in Jos, has approached the council and asked for a higher capacity of the plant to be erected in its premises, which is a way to commercialise RMRDC’s products and services.
Sodium silicate is another major raw material that is being imported. Although a company in Nigeria is producing it from silica sand. However, the RMRDC has fabricated a plant for the production of sodium silicate in larger quantity and higher conversion than products that were derived the silica sand.
The starch is also a very good important raw material for pharmaceutical in Nigeria. The RMRDC found a substitute for cassava in producing starch. Musa explained that there is a plant called Tacca that grow only in the wild. But the RMRDC, in collaboration with an institute in Umudike, developed the Tacca and now have seeds that could be planted by farmers and a plant that could extract starch from Tacca for pharmaceutical uses. Some are producing paracetamol with it.
Castor Oil is another wonderful crop and a major raw material in cosmetics and aviation industries. India has developed castor oil that it can blend with aviation fuel to fly jet planes. Castor oil is also used now as transformer oil. More than 100 chemicals can be extracted from castor oil. The RMRDC has developed a sheller and is developing an expeller for castor production that could turn around the Nigerian economy.
