The Minister of State for Science and Technology, Barr. Abdullahi Mohammed has advocated for synergy between Ministries, Departments and Agencies and players in the Nation’s Innovation Ecosystem (NIS) to trigger Nigeria’s economic transformation.
The Minister made the call at the National Workshop on Government-Industry-Academia Linkages organised by the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) encouraged actors in the National Innovation System (NIS) to synergise their efforts with a view to transforming the economy of Nigeria.
The Minister however acknowledged that despite various solution-based research and achievements made in various fields globally, Nigeria and other developing countries have failed to widely optimize the application of research and innovation to drive their economic development.
The Minister hinged his submission on the apparent disconnect that exists among the key actors of innovation-government, industry and the academia.
The Minister who spoke through his representative, Mr Idowu Afe, Director, ICT, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, noted that Nigeria’s economy has been bedevilled with inability to efficiently exploit its huge and abundant human and material resources for nation building.
He said: “This is evident on her reliance on export of natural resources and unprocessed commodities such as fossil fuel, cash crops, unprocessed solid minerals and others as means of sustaining her economy.”
He said that until and when our universities, research institutes, industry and government begin to work together by adding value to the available resources the nation will continue to grope in the dark. In his words, the only available option to change this trajectory is enhancing the diversification of our dear nation’s economy through application and deployment of cutting-edge research and innovation in all sectors of the economy: Agriculture, Biotechnology, Health, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Education, Nano-technology, Space Technology, etc.’. This, according to him, is only possible by walking the talk by all stakeholders.
He expressed the readiness and the commitment of the present administration to provide enabling environment for other key actors to make this a reality.
In a remark, the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NACETEM, Prof. Okechukwu Ukwuoma, commended the President Mohammadu Buhari Administration for supporting the agency in organising the workshop which brought together the key actors within the NIS to brainstorm and proffer practicable solutions on how effective collaboration can be forged to trigger sustainable development in the country.
Engr. Ukwuoma, said: “This workshop is a bold attempt by NACETEM to bring together the key stakeholders with a view to discussing practicable ways to address the disconnect among these actors.
“Without doubt, synergy among the actors will bring about radical change in our approaches to deployment of science, technology and innovation to the achievement of sustainable development, particularly in Nigeria’. He said further that the deliberate coming together of thinkers and doers will not only change the way the actors in the NIS have been doing things, but will rub off positively on the economy of the nation.
The Vice-Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Temitope Eyitayo Ogunbodede, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Prof. Bamire, commended NACETEM and the ministry for the initiative, which he described as’ a right step in the right direction.
The workshop which held virtually attracted over 900 participants from the academia, government institutions and the industry.