The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu has said that the Federal Government will actively engage with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and critical stakeholders to boost Innovation for the socio-economic benefit of Nigeria.
Dr Onu made this announcement at the media briefing and commemoration of the 2021 World Science Day For Peace and Development on Saturday in Lagos.
According to him, this development is in line with the Ministry’s recent rebranding efforts and its fresh mandate to boost Scientific Innovations in the country.
The Minister called on Nigerians, both young and old to use science to fully understand who we are so that the journey to greatness can be smoother and easier.
He said: “We must, as a nation, change our orientation and pay more attention to science so that we can rapidly develop our nation for the good of all. By doing this, Nigeria will become self-reliant, and be respected by other nations, all over the world.”
On the development of Scientific policies in Nigeria, he highlighted the following policies as being developed and at different stages of implementation, which include The National Science, Technology and Innovation
Roadmap 2017-2030; National Strategy for Competitiveness in Raw Materials and Products Development; Presidential Executive Order No. 5; Leather and Leather Products Policy and the Methanol Fuel Production Technology Policy.
Dr Onu maintained that a lot of hard work is underway to submit to the Federal Executive Council, other policies on nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, bioethics and biotechnology.
He used the opportunity to remind the general public of the recently inaugurated, Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Nigerian Chemical and Material Industry Action Programme (NiCMIAP).
He added that observations have been made on the absence of a well-developed chemical industry, which is a major gap in Nigeria’s journey to achieve inclusive and sustainable industrialization of the country.
On recent groundbreaking activities of the Ministry, he said: “tremendous reforms to prepare the Ministry to serve the nation for not just this decade, but for a very long time to come. We have changed our vision and mission statements, our logo, core values and critical success factors.
We are currently restructuring the Ministry to prepare it for the emerging technologies of both today and tomorrow. We are reviewing the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy to make it responsive to the new changes in the world.”
