- Safiu Kehinde
Professor Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, Director General/Chief Executive of Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), is set to deliver the 10th edition of The Bullion Lecture.
The event, themed From Resources to Prosperity: How Raw Materials Development, Value Addition and Innovation Can Catalyse Nigeria’s Industrial Renaissance, is scheduled to hold on Thursday, April 23, 2026 at The Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Ike-Muso, according to a statement made available to NPO Reports on Tuesday by Dr. Ray Echebiri, Founder/CEO of Centre for Financial Journalism and organisers of The Bullion Lecture, will be bringing over 30 years of expertise in raw material market dynamics, supply chain economics, and research commercialisation into the conversation at the lecture.
As profiled in the statement, the Director General of RMRDC is a distinguished Natural Resource Economist and Academic Leader who sits at the intersection of industry, policy, and academia, driving Nigeria’s transition from a resource-exporting nation to an industrial powerhouse.
Ike-Muonso is the chief architect of the landmark 30% Value-Addition Bill, a transformative legislative mandate requiring local processing of all extracted raw materials prior to export.
This initiative, coupled with his aggressive advocacy for the prohibition of imports for locally abundant resources, is designed to secure Nigeria’s economic sovereignty and fortify domestic industrial linkages.
Under his leadership, the RMRDC is repositioning Nigeria as a central production hub for the African continent.
Prior to his current role, he served as CEO of ValueFronteira Limited, a premier commodities research and data analytics firm.
His career is marked by high-level consultancies and strategic partnerships with global institutions, including multilateral organisations (The World Bank, UNDP, European Commission, ECOWAS); development partners (USAID, DFID, FCDO); and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), and academic institutions (Lagos Business School and Edinburgh Business School).
According to Echebiri, the 2026 edition of the lecture (10th in the series), will be chaired by Otunba Kelvin Dele Oye, Chairman, Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics and former President of National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).
HRH Jacob Esan, Chief Executive Officer of Geo Fliuds Plc, and Mr. Christian Udechukwu, Commissioner for Industrial Development, Anambra State, will dissect the guest lecturer’s presentation as panelists.
The event will feature the presentation of the book Pathways to Nigeria’s Socio-Economic Transformation. Edited by Dr. Ray Echebiri, the book is a compilation of the text of The Bullion Lecture from 2016 to 2026.
Expected guests at the lecture include government officials, captains of industry, academics, banking and finance executives, energy sector players, manufacturers, maritime executives, ICT professionals, members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of multilateral institutions, media practitioners, members of the public.