IKOMCCIMA President Attends Africa Raw Materials Summit 2025

Oru Leonard

The Africa Raw Materials Summit 2025 kicked off on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at the Abuja Continental Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria. Organized by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), this landmark event brings together over 1,000 experts from 72 countries to explore strategies for unlocking Africa’s vast raw materials potential and advancing industrial growth through sustainable value addition.

The President of the Ikom Chambers of Commerce and Industry (IKOMCCIMA), Mrs Flora Agbiji Takim-Ndifon attended the summit with utmost zeal to network and build capacity to the advantage of the Chambers. As a result, she met some notable individuals like the Minister of State (Industry), Senator John Owan Enoh.

During her remarks, IKOMCCIMA President commended the organisers of the summit. She said “We can’t over emphasis the need to improve infrastructure, electricity, water, hospitals, roads, and other things that improve quality of life and ease of doing business. Good to hear the need for research, IT, and irrigation mentioned.

“We should also mention a very critical factor in farming, which is farm labour. In this part of the world, farming is still labour intensive due to poor mechanisation. The dwindling number of farm labour has made it very expensive, making it difficult to know if there’s profit from the venture. Focus has to be placed on farming equipment/machines to encourage young people to go into farming from which raw materials come from.”

Summit Highlights:

• Theme: “From Extraction to Innovation: Transforming Africa’s Raw Materials Sector”
• Focus Areas:
  • Economic Diversification: Strategies for leveraging Africa’s natural resources for sustainable industrialization and economic growth
  • Investment Opportunities: Exploring investment opportunities in raw materials processing and infrastructure
  • Sustainable Extraction: Discussing sustainable extraction and value-addition techniques
  • Regional Collaboration: Strengthening intra-African cooperation for a unified sector
• Key Participants
  • Industry leaders
  • Government officials
  • Academic experts
  • Technology innovators
  • Investors and financial institutions.

Expected Outcomes:

• Roadmap for Natural Resource Management: RMRDC will unveil a 10-year roadmap for managing Nigeria’s natural resources
• Job Creation: The initiative aims to create three million jobs for Nigerians within the first four years
• Sustainable Development: Fostering sustainable development of Africa’s vast raw materials resources.

We hope to get harvest of results and benefits to the Chamber as a result of the President’s untiring efforts.