Onu harps on role of science, technology to economy

Harnessing Science,Technology and Innovation will help Nigeria’s development process, especially in her drive to diversify the economy.

Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said this at the 15th meeting of the National Council on Science and Technology in Benin.

With the theme : “Nigerian Economy Driven By Science and Innovation’’, Onu said the ministry was committed to playing its role in ensuring that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan(EGRP) strategies of the present administration were STI driven and successfully implemented.

Onu said that though the country was yet to reach its full potentials in the deployment of STI deliverables into project and programmes due to some identified challenges, it has been able to attain some mileage within the past few years.

On National Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap (NSTIR) 2030, Onu said the Federal Government was committed to investing N180b to ensure its successful implementation.He added that the amount,which would be over a period of three budget years, would be in the short term basis of roadmap.

Onu said the ministry was keen on implementing the roadmap, in collaboration with wide variety of stakeholders, including public and private research development centres.

The Science and Technology minister expressed optimism that the implementation of the planned NSTIR 2030 programmes and increased investment in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) would help actualise Nigeria’s dream to join the top 20 of technologically advanced countries in the world.

He further stated that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017 to 2020 recently launched by the present administration, focused on macroeconomic policy improvement, economic diversification, competitiveness, improvement, social inclusion and job creation.

The Minister opined that the ERGP targeted that the Nigerian economy would recover strongly with a GDP growth of seven per cent, driven by non oil sector growth of 7.2 per cent by 2020.

Onu said this would help in the steady expansion of the agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors, stating that almost 15 million net jobs would be created with poverty reduction from 61 per cent to 50-55 per cent by 2020.

Ladesope Ladelokun with Agency Report