RMRDC, SON, UNIDO, OTHERS TO EMBARK ON INTER-AGENCY PARTNERSHIP FOR STANDARDS ON RAW MATERIALS

from right to left, DR. Omojola,(Director RMRDC)Mr Olaniyan, (Director, RMRDC) Mr Charles Malata - Chirwa ( Head NQI , Nigeria),Dr HD Ibrahim DG/CEO RMRDC, Dr Raymond Tavares UNIDO Veina, Prof Abimbola Uzomah ,Lead National Expert for Componet 1 (NQI),and Mr Obekpa John (Project Officer,RMRDC)

As part of efforts to address the issue of poor quality of indigenously produced raw materials  so as to improve the competitiveness of domestic consumer goods, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) is leading an inter-agency partnership initiative involving the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and others to evolve a robust and functional frame work for the development of acceptable quality standards for raw materials produced in Nigeria.

Speaking during a meeting with members of UNIDO led by Dr Raymond Tavares , Industrial  Development Officer , Trade Capacity -Building Branch, Vienna, Austria at the RMRDC Headquarters in Abuja recently, the Director General of the Council, Dr HussainiDoko Ibrahim, said an inter-agency collaboration wasnecessary for achieving a holistic quality standard development framework for industrial raw materials in Nigeria.

Dr Ibrahim, while acknowledging the importance of a working synergy between RMRDC and other relevant stakeholders in improving the quality standards of raw materials in the country, emphasized that assuring and ensuring the availability of quality materials for resource based industries in Nigeria is the cardinal statutory responsibility of RMRDC.

Director General/ CEO (RMRDC), Dr HussainiDoko Ibrahim in a chat with Dr Raymond Tavares, UNIDO, Vienna during the latter’s visit to the Council

 

He said the council would therefore welcome, as part of its strategic plan, viable collaborations with relevant stakeholders to quickly improve competitiveness of consumer goods produced in Nigeria by elaborating quality standards , necessary to attain industrial qualityspecifications  for raw materials by the manufacturing industries for compliance by producers of basic and value added raw materials.

Dr Ibrahim said the council is poised to exploiting areas of quick needs- low hanging fruits- as it were and that the council was open to working with relevant partners to improve the  capacity of producers of  raw materials to meet industrial quality specifications and also develop standards where there is non for strategic industrial raw materials. He particularly   decried the frequent rejection of some commodities exports from Nigeria due to quality concerns . 
 

However, he described as unacceptable, instances where some multinationals discriminatingly shun the use of local raw materials on the guise that they were sub-standard. He cited the case of barytes produced in Nigeria as being one of the best in the World with specific gravity as high as 4.2  but often rejected by some companies for use as drilling mud, in the oil and gas  industry . 

To ameliorate the situation , the DG/CEO said that RMRDC in collaboration with African was in the process of setting up a raw materials testing laboratory, where conformity assessment test to set quality standards ( industrial specifications for raw materials)  can be  ascertained .

Speaking at the forum, the leader of the UNIDO delegation,Dr Raymond Tavares said UNIDO would provide the necessary technical assistance to the Council and the Inter-Agency Committee on Development of Standards for Raw Materials , in its bid to improve quality standard of raw materials produced , in Nigeria to ensure global competitiveness of their consumer outputs, where UNIDO's  mandate in Nigeria permits. He acknowledged RMRDC's efforts in working to improve the quality of industrial raw materials  as being pivotal in  ensuring the competitiveness of indigenous consumer goods in the international markets.

Also  speaking Mr Charles Malata -Chirwa, Head National Quality Infrastructure, said UNIDO was at the concluding stages of developing a national quality infrastructure for Nigeria,working with SON as Secretariat and other relevant stakeholders such as RMDC,on various sub committees. 

He also said UNIDO was an organization that helps developing countries and economies in transition to comply with international standards, even as he noted that manufacturers in developing countries and related industry support institutions needed to develop systems to comply with the new management standard through certification of processes and even personnel . He listed the quality infrastructure as Accreditation, Standardization, Metrology etc. and that a Technical Regulations Body/Board comprising agencies with regulatory mandates, as members was in the offering . The essence of the  endeavor is to protect the consumer and be competitive. He also lauded Council's efforts in addressing  the issue of quality standards from the raw materials supply angle as he reiterated  that poor quality raw  materials cannot produce competitive consumer goods.

Chuks Ngaha

Deputy Director

Public Affairs Unit (RMRDC)