The federal government has expressed willingness to strengthen investment and other interventionist measures in Science Technology and Innovation (STI) to boost the productive capacity of the nation.
Minister of Science Technology and Innovation, Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora, said this while declaring open a one-day Ministerial Retreat organised by the Ministry in Abuja yesterday. According to the Minister the retreat with the theme “Science Technology and Innovation: Role of Government” was aimed to brainstorm and fashion out a strategic approach for critical activities geared toward achieving the goal of moving Nigeria from resource-based to knowledge-based economy.
“All over the world, the relevance of STI cannot be over emphasized. There is no gainsaying the fact that the usefulness of STI is critical to all areas of human endeavors.
“As you are aware, economic success at the world stage and industrial leadership of nations and corporate bodies today are driven by STI.
“It is a matter of common knowledge that countries which have made giant strides in sustainable economic development owe such a feat to heavy investments in STI, which guarantees continuous productivity growth and potential for inclusive and sustainable industrial development/revolution,” he said.
He noted that the government is poised to provide an enabling environment to support the Science and Technology sector that will unlock the enormous potential for the creation of more wealth and employment opportunities to productively engage the youths, thereby dousing their tendency to resort to protest in expressing their grievances.
Earlier in his remarks minister of state Science Technology and Innovation, Chief Henry Ikoh, said the nation expects more from the Ministry in view of the dwindling revenue generation and the over dependence on importation, which has created unemployment, weakness of the naira which the nation cannot afford now.
“The president stated that he would want to remove 100 million youth out of poverty in the next 10 years and the onus is on us to continuously commercialise research and development results for it to have the required impact for the nation,” he said.
Chairman Senate Committee of Science Technology and Innovation, Uche Ekwunife, in her goodwill message said the National Assembly has considered and passed bills that advance the cause of using STI for sustainable growth and development.
In the same vein, the House of Representatives Committee Chairman on STI, Beni Lar said the retreat was apt since it dwells on the implementation of the National Policy on STI. She added that the role of government in STI of any nation irrespective of its developmental stage cannot be overemphasised.
“Certainly government provides the enabling environment and governing framework that determines the pace of STI in any country. This is so because of its ability to influence society through policy, incentive and disincentive. STI in a developing nation like ours can only take off and thrive on the strong commitment of all the arms of government. The key to economic diversification is a robust and dynamic STI sector and only the government can create, energise and sustain it.
“As a legislative arm, I wish to assure this forum that the National Assembly is more than willing and committed to the development and repositioning of the sector for the numerous benefits accruable to the nation. No nation can command respect in the comity of nations without a strong and STI base,” she said.
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