The Nigerian Government will establish an innovation centre in Enugu state, the Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh has said.
He made this known in Enugu at the South East Dialogue on; “the establishment and implementation of the technology and Innovation centres for global competitiveness and productivity’.
The event was organised by the Strategy Implementation Task Force for Presidential Executive order No. 5. held at Sylvia Hotels, Independent layout, Enugu.
According to the Minister, the dialogue is also to serve as an avenue for the Promotion of Technology Utilisation, Strengthening of Technology Management and Information Systems, the facilitation of Commercialisation and Global Competitiveness, as well as support Strategies for full implementation of Presidential Executive Order No.5.
“The Executive Order No.5 is aimed at placing the Nigerian Service Providers, Farmers, Manufacturers, Youth, Women and other National Stakeholders at the centre of the Nigerian Economy. It is an interventionist instrument of the present administration to promote a new renaissance that would transform our economy from resource to knowledge-based economy or what you can call from Consumption to Production that is driven by innovation,” the Minister said.
Also, he stated that as a result of the Executive Order No.5, the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is charged with the responsibility to establish technology and innovation centres to utilise and strengthen the technology management capability and information systems, within the respective geo-political zones to publicise and promote Nigeria’s drive to productivity and global competitiveness at the zonal levels.
Meanwhile, the South East Centre is located in Projects Development Institute, Enugu (PRODA), mainly to improve on the present understanding of the role of Science, Technology and Innovation in the socio-economic development of Nigeria by the General Public, reduction/stoppage of the present Research and Development (R&D) work in Nigeria being carried out in silos.
“It is also aimed at establishing a framework for consultation, sharing experience, information and practices as well creation of a conducive environment for interaction among Scientists, Researchers and Inventors working on projects in different geopolitical zones of the country and internationally. The Centre will also serve as medium for presentation and analysis of research findings and results for possible patenting and commercialisation,” Ikoh stated.
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation also observed that the present drop in the volume of crude oil sales which contributes the largest share of Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves, including global growth slowdown and geopolitical tensions along some critical trading routes in the world are directly and indirectly affecting Nigeria’s national wealth and reserve.
The theme of this dialogue which is “Achieving Nigeria’s Competitiveness and Improved Foreign Exchange Earnings through Science , Technology and Innovation” was intended to enable stakeholders to produce an effective and efficient National Strategy document to support the monetary policies, fiscal policies as well as trade policies of government for a better and improved economy in order to develop convergence points.
“In order to avoid further depletion of the reserves, the CBN took a number of countervailing Policy actions, anchored on the prioritization of the most critical needs for foreign exchange as well as maintaining stability in the exchange rate.
“However, to support the actions of CBN it has become important for STI to play an important role in the Fiscal and Monetary Policies of the country for a better today and tomorrow,” Ikoh stated.
National Readiness
Ikoh urged Nigerians not to forget that economic transformation of the country should have a measure of readiness to move to a greater height to drive productivity, sustainability and shared prosperity.
“This administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had shown and improved Government’s responses to change, and collaboration between government and investors including firms. Social safety net protection and sound financial institutional framework have been tailored towards the economic transformation of the country,” Ikoh said.
However, he said that more needs to be done to achieve the desired goal in research and development’s capacity and capability of the country.
“The Innovation ecosystem of the country is geared towards generation of ideas, as well as translate them into products and their commercialization to a large scale. It is a known fact that the success of this is dependent on several factors, such as very strong knowledge-generation area (universities, research Centres and laboratories), and the active collaboration between these knowledge Centres and commercial businesses; we still hope to improve on this,” the Minister said.
The Minister urged participants to deliberate extensively in finding solutions to the challenges facing Nigeria as a country to achieve the rightful place in the comity of Nations using Science, Technology and Innovation.
“The Federal Government will do its best to ensure that the Executive Order No.5 is fully implemented using the Technology and Innovation Centres as a major component to create wealth, strengthen our economy, reduce poverty and provide employment for our people,” Ikoh said.
Hauwa Abu
