12th April, 2017
Mr Banjo Kathir, an inventor, on Wednesday called on the Federal Government not to politicise the establishment of the National Research Innovation Council (NRIC) in order to achieve its aim.
Kathir gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
Nigeria launched the National Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy in 2012 with the aim of creating mechanisms to promote, commercialise and diffuse local technologies for industrial development.
The policy was later reviewed to become the National Research and Innovation Council in the same year with the former President Goodluck Jonathan as first Chairman.
Kathir, who invented sole attaching machine for the manufacturing of shoes, said that the council must not be politicised or made to be a place to be used to settle party loyalists.
He said that the country had great potential in technological innovations with relevance in modern trend and the council should be made to explore these potential.
Kathir, a mechanical engineer with the Nigerian Institute of Leather Science and Technology (NILEST), said the council’s activities were key to the technological advancement of the country.
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“Government should ensure that round pegs are put in round holes and things that have to do with science and innovation should not be used to play politics.
“Technocrats that know their onions should be used to superintend over the council so that the right policies and decisions that will be to the advantage of the nation can be made.
“I know that the resourcefulness of our people, if well harnessed by a technocrat, it will bring the gains of the application of the outputs of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to our country.
“It is the sincerity of purpose that has taken those countries to the height they have attained in science and technology today.
“It did so for other developed countries and brought about a turnaround for them, it can do the same for our country’s fortune,’’ he said.
He added that proper pioneering of the council would help inventors research further and come out with greater solutions to meet the country’s needs.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu had recently disclosed that the draft bill for the establishment of the council was ready to be presented to the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly.
He said that the draft bill for the establishment of the council and the National Research Fund once institutionalised, would improve on funding researches and innovations in all aspects of the economy.