The Senate has said President Bola Tinubu is expected to sign the proposed 30 per cent Value Addition Bill into law in November, paving the way for mandatory local processing of raw materials before they are exported.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Aminu Iya Abbas, disclosed this on Monday during the Second Africa Raw Materials Summit in Abuja, noting that efforts were underway to complete the legislative process and secure presidential assent.
Abbas explained that the proposed law was designed to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on exporting unprocessed commodities by encouraging domestic industries to transform raw materials into finished or semi-finished products.
He said the National Assembly had passed the Raw Materials Research and Development Council Act Amendment Bill, popularly known as the 30 per cent Value Addition Bill, in 2025, adding that the remaining processes were being pursued to ensure its implementation.
“The bill will soon be transmitted back to us. We are working on it. Hopefully, within the next two or three weeks, it will pass, and Mr President will sign it into law,” the senator said.
He added that the executive and legislative arms of government were working together to advance policies capable of strengthening Nigeria’s industrial sector and boosting economic development across Africa.
The lawmaker also urged African countries to prioritise local processing rather than depend on foreign investors to develop facilities for exploiting their natural resources.
Citing an unnamed African country that reportedly rejected a foreign refinery proposal in favour of establishing its own facility, Abbas said Nigeria and other nations on the continent should adopt a similar approach to retain more economic benefits from their resources.
He called on stakeholders to collaborate on practical solutions that would promote industrial growth and ensure African countries derived greater value from their natural wealth.
The Senate passed the bill in July 2025 after considering a report submitted by its Committee on Science and Technology on the amendment of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council Act, 2022.
Sponsored by Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, the legislation seeks to make at least 30 per cent local processing and value addition compulsory for raw materials produced in Nigeria before export.
The proposal is expected to encourage local industries to process minerals, agricultural produce and other natural resources, thereby creating employment, expanding manufacturing activities and retaining more revenue within the country.
The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Professor Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, projected that the policy could generate more than 1.2 million skilled jobs within five years.
Ike-Muonso said the council was working to connect research with industrial production through policies supporting local processing, technology acquisition and the development of equipment suitable for processing Nigeria’s raw materials.
He described the proposed legislation as a major step towards transforming the country’s industrial sector, attracting foreign direct investment into local manufacturing clusters and increasing non-oil export earnings.
According to him, the policy could create more than 1.2 million high-value jobs, attract billions of dollars in foreign investment and contribute at least $1.2bn annually to non-export earnings.
Also speaking at the summit, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, John Owan Enoh, said Africa’s economic challenge was not a lack of natural resources but its limited capacity to convert them into finished products.
Enoh warned that exporting raw materials without processing them locally meant African countries were losing potential jobs, industrial opportunities and economic prosperity to other nations.
He urged development partners and investors to support domestic processing industries, adding that the Federal Government was pursuing industrialisation through its Nigeria Industrial Policy.
The minister cited the ministry’s cocoa value addition summit, themed “From Bean to Brown”, as part of efforts to expand local processing and increase the economic benefits derived from agricultural commodities.
He further stressed that sustainable economic growth and exchange rate stability depended partly on improved productivity and the ability to add value to locally available resources.
Enoh urged participants at the summit to develop actionable recommendations that would translate into measurable improvements in Nigeria’s industrial capacity.
