13th June, 2019
The immediate past Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has appealed to Government of Japan to strengthen collaboration with Federal Government on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
Onu made the call on Thursday in Abuja at his home when he received a delegation, led by the special envoy of the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Shunsuke Takei.
The delegation was officially sent from Japan to witness the June 12 Democracy Day celebrations in Nigeria.
The former minister said Japan had advanced in many innovative activities which Nigeria could benefit a lot from.
He said “I commend your great nation. Japan is a strong, determined and hard-working nation in terms of innovations.
Japan was one-time the second largest economy in the world.
“`We in Nigeria are working toward moving from resource-based economy to innovation-driven economy. This, I think will make
us to have more things to do together.”
Takei commended the former minister for his efforts toward promoting STI in Nigeria.
He promised that Japan would further uphold its collaboration with Nigeria for mutual benefits.
He added that “this is my second visit to Nigeria. My first was on trade mission, while this second visit is to witness the first June 12
Democracy Day celebration.
“Yesterday, I had a brief with Nigerian businessmen on international matters,” the Japanese envoy said.