The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has said the Federal Government is at the implementation stage of Executive Order 005 which seeks to promote Nigerian professionals and deployment of technology as the fulcrum of socio-economic activities.
Onu stated this yesterday during a working visit by the Senior Executive Course (43) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) to his office in Abuja.
He said government aimed to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by the turn of the decade through the implementation of the executive order.
Onu further said the deployment of science, technology and innovation (STI) would help the nation overcome many challenges bedevilling her, especially security.
According to him, the use of STI will enhance intelligence gathering and facilitate the use of cutting-edge technology to eliminate security challenges in all regions of the country.
The minister stressed the need for Nigeria and other developing countries to develop home-grown solutions to challenges facing them, such as production of vaccines to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
“No matter how wealthy and rich a nation can be, in terms of resources, there is need to make sure that many of the things needed in your country are locally provided,” he said.
Onu averred that Nigeria had the capacity to confront all the challenges facing it, adding all goods and services being imported could be locally produced.
Earlier, the NIPSS director of research, Prof. Dung Pam Sha, said the institute would work closely with the ministry to ensure the deployment of STI in solving national challenges at all levels.
He also said the institute was on a fact-finding mission on the contributions of the ministry to national development which would enable it make necessary recommendations to the Presidency on how to improve the role of STI to national development.
