The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has said that Nigeria has made a tremendous breakthrough in import reduction, by cumulatively saving N5.03trillion between 2017 and 2020.
Onu made the statement today, at the closing ceremony of the STI Expo 2022 in Abuja, based on the data by the United Nations Harmonised System Code and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
He said that due to advancement in STI, the nation has become a home for start-ups, as technology has been transferred to many of the nation’s MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises).
“Nigeria has become a home of start-ups. Using one of our agencies, the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI), which has branches in all the states of the Federation, technologies developed locally are transferred to many of our entrepreneurs. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are springing up in many parts of the country.”
The minister added that in the past six years, the country has made a significant breakthrough in providing a remedy to major diseases in form of drugs and medicine derived from our indigenous natural ingredients. He further said the country has made a lot of progress in the development of new drugs and they are at different levels of certification including clinical trials.
Onu commended the nation’s efforts in agriculture and food security, adding that through research and innovation, efforts are ongoing to provide food security and agro raw materials for industries.
A statement by the ministry’s deputy director, press and public relations, Afonja Ajibola, said the minister pointed out that Nigerian youths have been encouraged to actively participate in the STI sub-sector through studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
“We embarked on gender-sensitive programmes to make STI inclusive, to improve the participation of girls and women in scientific research and innovation activities.”
Earlier, in a goodwill message, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said STI has been helpful in the production of solar panels to provide electricity to rural primary health care centres.
He added that inter-ministerial cooperation is needed to achieve a meaningful breakthrough in the delivery of healthcare services to Nigerians.
