President Muhammadu Buhari, and major stakeholders have called for more investment in Science Technology and Innovation (STI) to drive the industrialisation process for a competitive Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region.
President Buhari made this call in his address while declaring open the first edition of the African Forum for Research and Innovation (FARI) in Abuja yesterday.
Stressing that the theme “Science, Technology and Innovation for a more competitive ECOWAS,” was apt, Buhari said the West African region stands to gain a lot through the utilisation of STI to address the various diseases and catastrophes ravaging the region.
Represented by his chief of staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, President Buhari noted that STI is recognised as the driver of Nigeria’s National Development Plan (2021-2025), adding that the utilisation and promotion of innovative applications with other socio- economic development indicators will lead to rapid industrialisation of the region.
He said “Nigeria has taken steps to ensure that its youthful population is given the appropriate environment to achieve their dreams in innovation by passing legislation that governs and provides level -playing field via the Nigerian Start-up bill, which has been passed by our National Assembly and I look forward to assenting to the landmark piece of legislation as a critical building block for energising our innovation landscape.“In line with the mandate of scheduled plan of action of the STI for the ECOWAS region, there is need for researchers to acquire modern and state- of- the art equipment and materials thereby strengthening the capacity of the region to serve as a catalyst for regional cooperation and regional integration through policy harmonisation, advocacy, trade liberalisation, trade facilitation in all sectors of the STI ecosystem,” he said.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray in his speech said that STI is essential to competitiveness and is one of the major drivers of economic growth, social welfare and adaptation to the environment. He added that STI is a factor in the modernisation of education systems, agricultural production, predictability of seasons and a potential source of job creation and poverty alleviation.
