THE Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has promised to help Nigerian universities establish science parks to facilitate diversification of the country’s economy through science, technology and innovations.
Dr Onu made the promise in his address at the first International Conference for Science Parks and Innovation Ecosystem for National Development, SPIE4ND, holding at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The Minister said that the culture of establishing high-tech clusters should be promoted by universities, new business incubators and research complexes within the Science and Technology sector. Stressing that no nation would achieve greatness without Science and Technology, Dr Onu said his ministry was ready to partner and support science and technology innovations geared towards helping Nigeria transit to knowledge-based economy. The Minister explained that the Science Park project would facilitate the creation and growth of innovation-based companies through incubation and spin-off process, as well as provide other value-added services together with high quality space and facilities. Citing the example of Singapore, the minister said that history had shown that countries with smaller population had achieved greatness through science and technology. He stated that Nigeria with larger population could leverage on science parks to improve the pace of its economic growth. “I assure you that the collaboration between the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and my ministry and its parastatals would yield positive results with both organisations mutually benefiting for the overall development of Nigeria,” he said. He said, as the most populous African country, Nigeria should set the pace for science and technology revolution in the continent by harnessing indigenous technology.
Source: Vanguard
