The Raw Material Research and Development Council (RMRDC),
has said that it would partner Rotary Club International to research the
production of local incubators, to save the lives of pre-mature babies.

Prof. Peter Onwualu, Director General of RMRDC, made this
known in an interview withour correspodent at the swearing-in of the new Rotary
club president in Gwarinpa, Abuja.

“If you look at what is happening presently, Nigeria has more
or less become a dumping ground for imported technologies.

“Almost all the products we consume in this country are
imported.

“I’ve seen that one of the projects that the Rotary Club,
Gwarinpa, has listed is the purchase of incubators for some hospitals and I
think we can go a little further.

“And of cause, looking at the picture, I asked myself who
makes incubators in Nigeria, and I know that incubators I see— that is
made-in-Nigeria— are incubating eggs for the poultry industry.

“I believe that the work I do at RMRDC is actually trying to
develop the non-oil sector; we are at the point where we can improve the local
content from the present low level to a very high level,’’ he said.

According to him, the RMRDC will ensure the sponsorship
through the research grant scheme.

“We give researchers grants to do research and come up with technology; so, we are going to partner with Rotary, Rotary will assist us in identifying potential researchers and also in supervising the project.

“But the council will co-fund the project, give research
grants to whoever wins the competition and allow people to compete and show how
they can do it,’’ he said.

Onwualu added that currently, most of the industries in the
country import about 80 per cent of their raw materials and over 80 per cent of
finished products are being imported into the country.

He said that for the country to make progress, especially in
line with the transformation agenda, there was need for support for local
manufacturing.

This, he said, would go a long way in bringing about
economic growth and also creating jobs for the teeming Nigerian youths.

“Any economy that cannot produce, cannot make it, it will
just become a conduit for selling products already produced by other people.

“When we import, we are actually exporting jobs to other
countries; so, I see the incubator as one area that we can do research to find
how it can be designed locally and manufactured locally.

“And I believe that if we succeed, we may be able to own one
or two industries that can manufacture baby incubators in Nigeria.

“I believe that in the long run, the cost will become
cheaper and it will become more affordable to more Nigerians,’’ he said

He said that the council had researched almost all the raw
materials in the country, including how to process cassava, oil palm, different
minerals, and secondary raw materials and most recently, on the Moringa crop.

“It can be used to treat so many things, we have researched
on Cashew and now we have a factory based on local technology for adding value
to cashew.

“Currently, we are driving a project on establishing
clusters of Small and Medium Enterprises in different parts of the country,
based on research we have done within Nigeria and based on local technology.

“ So, in the case of the incubator, it has to be that the
design will use local material for its fabrication and manufacture, so that we
create jobs for our people and increase capability of our people to use
technology,’’ he said.

He added that the council had, in the last three years,
spent about N500 million in the area of research grants to people to come up
with technologies.