FG approves 13 year roadmap for Science and Technology

Minister of Science and Technology,Ogbonnaya Onu gave indications that government has approved a 13 year roadmap for the science and technology sector.

The roadmap would span through 2017-2030 and it is expected to address lapses already being experienced in the technical sector over the years.

According to Onu,it was embarrassing that Nigeria still rely on expatriates to operates some equipments or carry out developments in the country. He said the development does not speak well for the country, hence the decision to change the trend.

“At the FEC meeting the Ministry of Science and Technology presented a Science and Technology and Innovation roadmap for our country 2017 – 2030.

“We have been so worried that in our country, children and pupils in secondary and primary schools, many of them do not like to study Mathematics and Science subjects and that has been a worry to us as a nation. We see that our lack of interest in science and technology has resulted in lapses, if we want to embark on major projects in the country like building a dam, a refinery or airport or seaport, we rely on foreign expertise.

“When it comes to Science and Technology many think that we can’t do it, it has to be done from outside. This has created a lot of problems for us as a nation because when you import these things you are also exporting jobs creating unemployment for our people and putting undue pressure on the currency and also aggravating poverty in the nation.

“We decided that this must change, that we must have a science technology roadmap that will take our people beyond where we are now, to prepare Nigeria to be truly great nation where we will have the capacity to use the natural resources we have to meet the needs we have as a nation so that we can become self reliant.

“That will give us self confidence which we need to be a truly great nation. In this roadmap we started by letting our people know that we have a very rich Science and Technology heritage as a nation. That in the past our ancestors understood their environment and because of it they were able to do as well as they did.

“If you take the Benin city walls, it is longer than that of China, we have fine works of arts, we were able to produce iron-ore 3,000 years ago and today we are unable to have our own iron and steel produced in the country. This is to let our young people know that they have a heritage and they should aspire to be far better than their ancestors.

“In the roadmap we also identified all the things that we need to do to place Nigeria in a position that it should be.

There are estimates that by 2050 Nigeria, by purchasing power parity will be the ninth largest economy in the world but we cannot get there without Science and Technology.

In essence the difference between developed nations of the world that are the richest in the world and the developing countries that are poor, the main difference is Science and Technology and how they apply it to nation building,”Onu stated.