By Bisola Adeyemo
As part of efforts to make Nigeria an innovative country, President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday approved the changing of name of Ministry of Science and Technology to Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to facilitate economic growth and global competitiveness.
Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, announced this to journalists in Abuja.
The minister said that in 2017 the Federal Executive Council, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, approved the National Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap (NSTIR 2017-2030).
Environews quoted him to say “This was to use Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to catalyse Nigeria’s economic growth and competitiveness.
“This document laid out a core policy for driving positive socio-economic outcomes through science, technology and innovation in all activities of the economy.”
According to him, the new development will help the ministry to bring a shift in Research and Development which is industry and service demand-driven, resulting in rapid commercialisation and improved global competiveness.
“We all know that there has been a missing link with the statutory responsibility of the ministry.
“This decision by the President will ensure that the missing link will be adequately addressed.
“Immediately we are able to commercialise Research and Development breakthroughs, the nation’s global competitiveness ranking will improve tremendously with varying degrees of development that are sustainable.
“These include a robust STI ecosystem that will accommodate continuous system improvement, product quality enhancement and guaranteed standardisation of ‘Made-In-Nigeria’ goods and services,’’ he said.
