Worried by the dearth of raw materials testing and analysis facilities across the country, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) have taken a bold step to establish a testing and analysis centre for testing agriculture and mineral raw materials in Nigeria.
The Centre which is located within the campus of the AUST is expected to deepen collaboration between the two institutions in the areas of research, innovation as well as training for SMEs to be able to add value to local raw materials.
Speaking during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), the President of AUST, Professor Peter Azikiwe Onwualu commended the management of RMRDC under the visionary leadership of Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso for not only identifying the challenge but also taking strategic steps to address them. Prof Onwualu stated that the agreement will be hinge on the triple helix concept which brings together government, industry, and the academic to address these challenges.
The AUST President emphasized that the partnership is a major leap towards Nigeria’s industrial development as the Mineral Testing Facility will serve as a centre for skills development, knowledge sharing, agriculture and mineral testing for SMEs and other industries, as well as support the Council’s drive to achieve 30% minimum value addition to local raw materials before export.
The Director General of RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso thanked the AUST for the collaboration which has culminated in the signing of the MoA. He stressed that the Mineral Testing Centre was RMRDC’s response to addressing identified gaps in testing and analysing raw materials by SMEs and industries in Nigeria.
Prof. Ike-Muonso revealed that the 30% value addition drive of the Council has the capacity to trigger global resources to Nigeria that can boost the country’s foreign exchange earnings. He emphasized that with the establishment of the Mineral Testing and Analysis Centre within the AUST campus in Abuja, industries would no longer need to take their products abroad for testing and analysis as the Centre would be well-equipped to carry out tests for both agriculture and mineral raw materials for quality and specifications.
The DG observed that the partnership will provide critical support to the newly established Mineral Testing Centre, the Raw Materials Development Complex, and the RMRDC Training School by contributing to capacity building, technical expertise, and knowledge transfer. A central component of this collaboration is the launch of specialized postgraduate programmes in partnership with the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), aimed at addressing gaps in the raw materials sector through advanced academic and applied research.
He said the postgraduate programmes, targeting master’s and doctoral-level candidates, will focus on key areas such as materials science, industrial chemistry, mineral processing, metallurgy, sustainable manufacturing, and innovation in raw materials development. The curriculum will be designed to align with national priorities and global best practices, equipping a new generation of scientists, engineers, and policy experts with the skills required to drive value addition, local content development, and industrial competitiveness in Nigeria.
“Through research projects, industrial placements, and collaborative innovation labs, the programme will not only enhance the technical capacity of RMRDC and its stakeholders but also serve as a pipeline for grooming future leaders in Nigeria’s raw materials and industrial sectors, including building capacity for staff of RMRDC,” he noted.
The RMRDC DG stated further that the Council’s vision is to establish raw materials testing and analysis centres in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria as a way of encouraging SMEs and industries to carry out their agriculture and mineral testing and analysis in the country.
