Director-General, Raw Materials Research and Development Council Prof. Peter Onwualu, has blamed inadequate technological capacity of Nigerians for the low level of use of local raw materials. Onwualu made the declaration on Tuesday in Abuja when he fielding questions at a forum.
He said almost every attempt to use local raw materials for production was inhibited by the high cost occasioned by importation of all equipment which could have been produced locally. He said that there was therefore the need to build the capacity of Nigerians to go beyond the processing of raw materials alone to the fabrication of equipment and machines needed for processing. “I believe that there is a new zeal, but in all these, the major constraint is lack of local capacity, lack of local capacity for technology, and that is why we are talking about research.
“Even you asking me this question ‘am sure you want to solve this problem by becoming a processor, but I bet you that if you go into the field now to build a rice mill you will find that you’ll have to import the mill, you have to import the electric motor, you have to import even gear systems.
“So these are all components of technologies that are requires whereas if you are abroad in a developed economy and you want to go into manufacturing, all you need to do is pick up your phone and they will tell you where you can call.
“But that local capacity for technology is still not within our environment and that is the angle am emphasising that we need to invest more to create some kind of local technological base. Onwualu said that local fabricators in Nigeria literally cut metal with bare hands, so the kind of machines they produced could not compete with those produced abroad. He said that if an entrepreneur desired to go into production, he would almost be compelled to import the machines which also increased the cost of production.
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