Technology roadmap will save Nigeria $11Bn in 5 years - Onu

Ogbonnaya Onu

Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology

Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology

Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science & Technology, says the Federal Government’s National Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap will save the country about 11 billion dollars in five years.

Onu made the disclosure at the South West Sensitization Programme on National Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap on Friday in Lagos.

The minister said that the road map would aid the country’s transition from a resource-based to a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy that would drive the country’s economic diversification process.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government in August approved the 13-year National Science, Technology and Innovation Road Map starting from 2017 to 2030.

Onu said that the roadmap would enhance the nation’s emerging post-crude oil economy, catalyze economic growth and boost competitiveness of the nation’s raw material endowment.

He said the road map would be incorporated into the system to provide jobs, create wealth and reduce poverty in the country.

“This is the Road Map of all Road Maps. Other road maps have the life span of 3-5 years, but this road map of 13 years would outlive this present government and would also outlive my stay as the minister.

“If China with over one billion population could do it, Nigeria will. Our problem is not the population but to correct the mistakes our fathers made.

“Our generation must do better than the previous generations. We have to make sure that we improve on the legacies of our fathers.

“We believe that there is no problem in the country that we cannot surmount,” he said.

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Onu noted that science and technology, would be utilised to unlock the nation’s potential and drive the sustainable economic development plan of the current administration.

Prof Gloria Elemoh, Director-General, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), said that the institute would continue to support the government’s agenda of using science, technology and innovation to drive economic growth.

She said that the institute and other parastatal agencies in the ministry would, through their activities, catalyze government’s economic diversification strategy in the wake of dwindling oil revenue.

Elemoh commended the government on its resolve of massive deployment of indigenous technologies as a strategy to deepen the country’s economic recovery and growth.

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