The Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) have entered into a strategic partnership to strengthen Nigeria’s agricultural value chain and boost the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The agreement was formalised on Friday with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both organisations. It was the culmination of extensive engagements among key stakeholders from both institutions and seeks to enhance the value addition of key agricultural commodities and raw materials.
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The agreement also aims to address challenges across critical areas, including value chain development, harvesting, post-harvest losses, seedlings, cultivation, storage, processing, packaging, logistics, and marketing.
Speaking at the signing of the MoU, BOI Managing Director, Olasupo Olusi, said the agreement will help the two organisations convert research into bankable projects that add value, create jobs, and retain wealth within the economy.
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Mr Olusi insisted that Nigerian resources must leave its shores as finished products, stating BOI’s plan to support enterprises that will turn the framework into concrete industrial outcomes.
“This partnership brings together two institutions with complementary strengths: RMRDC’s deep expertise in raw materials research and development, and BOI’s capacity to translate viable projects into financed, executable industrial investments. Together, we can do what each institution cannot do as effectively on its own. We can convert research into bankable projects that add value, create jobs, and retain wealth within our economy.
“In practical terms, this means identifying and developing raw material-based opportunities across agro-processing, solid minerals, and industrial inputs, and channelling BOI financing to the entrepreneurs and enterprises ready to process local resources into finished and semi-finished goods. Nigeria’s raw materials should not be leaving our shores as commodities. They should be leaving as products.
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“At BOI, we are ready, ready to co-identify opportunities, structure financing, and support the enterprises that will turn this framework into concrete industrial outcomes. Let this be the beginning of a collaboration that Nigerians will feel, in the factories that open, the jobs that are created, and the value that stays here at home,” the BOI managing director stated.
Sustainability
The initiative aligns with BOI’s mission to boost the Nigerian economy by entrenching national goals of reducing post-harvest losses, promoting import substitution, improving the nation’s GDP, enhancing wealth sustainability through job creation, and fostering entrepreneurship and industrial capacity in the country.
To ensure the sustainability of the MoU, BOI established a Joint Steering Committee to oversee the implementation of the objectives, which include the development of a comprehensive strategy for minerals and agricultural value chain development.
The committee will also oversee seed development, cultivation, post-harvest management, processing, packaging, and market access, and facilitate the adoption and scaling of RMRDC’s locally developed machinery to develop the raw materials value chain.
To address post-harvest losses, the agreement will ensure the development of a framework to improve storage, processing, and logistics.
It will also undertake joint feasibility studies and pilot projects for key commodities, including onions, cassava, kenaf, leather, kaolin, and other industrial raw materials.
In his remarks, the Director General of RMRDC, Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, explained that the partnership will help both bodies align on key areas, including value chain development and the promotion of process technologies.
“We, at the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, deeply appreciate this relationship, and we are thrilled to initiate the formalisation process. We are uniting on key aspects, primarily focusing on value chain development and advancing process technologies.
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“These elements serve as the foundation for industrialisation, the creation of prosperity, and the generation of employment, along with all the indicators that guarantee that people live the kind of lives they deserve,” he said.
Mr Ike-Muonso said the joint implementation of the programmes will not only create employment but also propel the country toward economic prosperity.
“The future, the prosperity, the happiness of this country partially lie in your hands (BOI). So, we are very grateful for your agreement to work with us to finance this. We are also grateful that you are taking us in to work together in co-designing, co-sharing, data sharing, co-service programmes, and the joint implementation of these programmes, as well as joint advocacy efforts.
“So, by coming up strongly to say you are going to finance and work with us on this, it gives hope, it gives hope to the country and all the people who believe that this project will work,” Mr Ike-Muonso said.
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