BOI, RMRDC to boost agric value chain

The Bank of Industry and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen Nigeria’s agricultural value chain and drive economic growth.

According to a statement, the agreement, signed on April 17, 2026, aims to enhance value addition across key agricultural commodities and raw materials while addressing bottlenecks in production, processing, and distribution.

Both institutions said the partnership followed extensive engagements and would tackle challenges across harvesting, post-harvest losses, seedlings, cultivation, storage, processing, packaging, logistics, and marketing.

The initiative also aligns with efforts to reduce post-harvest losses, promote import substitution, improve Gross Domestic Product, create jobs, and boost entrepreneurship and industrial capacity.

To drive implementation, the BOI has set up a Joint Steering Committee to oversee execution, including the development of strategies for agricultural and minerals value chains and the adoption of locally developed machinery for raw materials processing.

The agreement also provides for joint feasibility studies and pilot projects targeting commodities such as onions, cassava, kenaf, leather, and kaolin, alongside improved frameworks for storage, processing, and logistics.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of BOI, Dr Olasupo Olusi, said the partnership would unlock value from Nigeria’s abundant raw materials.

Olusi said, “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.

“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.”

In his remarks, the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso, said the collaboration would advance industrialisation and economic prosperity.

Ike-Muonso said, “We, at the Raw Material 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 exchange development and promoting the advancement of process technologies. 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 that they deserve.”

He appreciated the BOI for working with the RMRDC in co-designing, co-sharing, data sharing, co-service programmes, and joint implementation of the programmes, as well as joint efforts on advocacy. He added, “By coming up strongly to say you are going to finance and work with us on this, it gives hope, and then it gives hope to the country and all the people who believe that this project will work.”