By Eunice Orike
Federal Government has disclosed that it improved the budgetary allocation to the Science, Technology and innovation Sector as leverage for quickly taking Nigeria’s teeming population out of poverty.
According to the government, the decision would also tame the tides of restiveness across the country.
In an address, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was represented by the secretary to the government of the federation George Akume, at the opening ceremony of the Science, Technology and Innovation Expo with the theme, “STI: Solution to National Economic Challenges said it is apt considering the challenging economic circumstances and the technological status of the country compared to our contemporaries.
He emphasised that all developed and developing economies utilize innovation in every area of human endeavours, as it rules the world.
Adding that innovation, flowing from science and technology, is indisputably the fulcrum of economic growth and national development.
He reiterated that with the Renewed Hope Agenda, Innovation, Science and Technology as crucial apparatus for modern- day socio-economic advancement will continue to receive support in the promotion and utilization of innovations and inventions carried out through local Research & Development to enhance indigenous capacity and capability in tandem with the provisions of the Presidential Executive Order No. 5 (2018).
According to him, the Order unarguably places Nigerian professionals and manufacturers at the centre of the Nigerian economy.
Hence, it serves as an instrument to midwife a new renaissance for transforming our economy from consumption to production driven by innovation.
Furthermore, the president hinted that national centers for training and welding will be established for training and retraining, evaluation and certification of persons in the welding practice across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
Adding that the centres would serve as hubs to unite all the science, technology and innovation ecosystem stakeholders to chart the utilization of mineral and human resources for global competitiveness.
He stated that welding plays a critical role in strengthening the economy through its deployment and utilization in manufacturing, science and technology, and oil and gas.
To this end, he directed the Federal Ministries of Finance and National Budget and Economic Planning to provide the required funds and modalities for the commencement of these centres.
President Tinubu also reiterated his commitment in actualizing the 0.5% of the nation’s GDP to Research and Development R&D, a furtherance to the efforts taken by the previous government of Muhammadu Buhari in 2022.
“I am aware that the Federal Government, at the 5th edition of the Science, Technology and Innovation Expo 2021, declared that “in tandem with the decision made by the African Union Executive Council in 2006 to establish a target for all members states of 1% of GDP investment in Research and Development (R&D) to improve innovation, productivity and economic growth, therefore, we want to reiterate that having come to terms with the challenges of this critical sector of the economy, we will henceforth dedicate 0.5% of our GDP to R&D to fast track meaningful development.
It is also on record that the previous Government of my predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR made a significant effort in actualizing this by communicating the decision of dedicating 0.5% of our GDP to Research and Development to the National Economic Council to come up with modalities in achieving this noble intention of Government. As a government, we would intensify our efforts in drawing the National Economic Council’s attention to hasten this dream’s actualization to strengthen the Innovation, Science and Technology IST,Sector”, he said.
However, he expressed delight with the inventions and innovations displayed by researchers, assuring that the government will do everything within the ambit of the law to give the needed support required for commercializing the products.
