Why Nigeria Is Not Progressing — Communication Minister

The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, has said that Nigeria is not progressing because Nigerians are not applying knowledge and innovation for the development of the country.

Tijani who declared that the world needs more youths with technological knowledge to resolve global challenges, noted that the youths are not expected to fish like their forefathers did in the last years.

Speaking at the 33rd convocation lecture of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), the minister stated that for the country to develop, three key sectors must be identified and improved upon.

According to him, the three sectors include; agriculture, manufacturing and servicing which had been used to measure the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 1980.

Delivering a lecture titled “Knowledge and research as a foundation for prosperous economy”, Tijani said universities of technology must rise more to the challenges of technological advancement in the country.

While saying that universities must be creators of jobs through technological advancement, Tijani urged students to embrace self-investment.

His words: ”With the level of water body we have, fishery is not growing, we depend on importation of fish. Financial institutions have done very well, but not as we expected them to have grown.

“We are not applying knowledge and innovation; we are expecting to fish like our forefathers did in the last years. Forestry is suffering the same things; coming to university is not to get degrees only, knowledge must be generated, disseminated in the way it can advance the country.”

In her address earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Adenike Oladiji, said the occasion started last week and inviting the minister was part of the activities lined up to mark the 33rd anniversary.

According to her, the convocation was to showcase the school as a citadel of knowledge and happy to have brought the minister to Akure for the first time.