By Haruna Salami and Musa Baba Adamu
Stakeholders have given overwhelming support to the Bill seeking to amend the Raw Materials Research and Development Council ( RMRDC) Act 2022 in Abuja on Wednesday at a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Science and Technology.
The Bill conceptualized by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and sponsored by Senator Peter Onyekachi Nwebonyi, basically aims at processing raw materials in Nigeria before exporting them.
In their separate presentations, stakeholders like the Ministry of Solid Minerals, Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) etc, threw their weights behind expeditious consideration and passage of the bill.
Representatives of the stakeholders described intendment of the amendment bill as required catalyst to turnaround the fortune of the country from exporting jobs and wealth abroad to generating them here.
Specifically, the Director-General of Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Professor Nnanyelugo Ike Muonso said final consideration and passage of the bill , will stop exportation of wealth and jobs to foreign countries by Nigeria through processing of raw materials before exporting them .
“Today is my happiest day with the 100% support the amendment bill got from the various stakeholders”, he said.
In his closing remarks the Chairman of the Committee , Senator Iya Abbas said since there was no opposing views to the proposed amendment bill, the committee will accordingly submit its report to the Senate soonest for final consideration and passage.
