The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said that Nigeria is ready to collaborate with the Republic of Sierra-leone to develop STI.
The minister stated this when he received his Sierra-Leonean counterpart, Prof. Alpha Tejan Wurie, in his office in Abuja.
Onu said Africa has many young people with tremendous potentials, who can be equipped with necessary skills to transform the economy, using the continent’s enormous natural resources.
“All the continent that have developed always come to Africa to take our resources to develop themselves. The question is ‘can’t we use the same resources, which other people take from us to develop our own country?’”.
He emphasised the need for African countries to come together and share experiences that can add value to their enormous resources to develop the continent.
Onu pointed out that Nigeria’s economy is diversified but needs to deepen its diversification to grow its domestic products which will help the country’s GDP to rise. This, he added, will help the country to create jobs, employment and wealth for her people.
The minister further stated that the essence of the ‘Expo 2022’ is to facilitate the commercialisation of research findings and provide a platform for researchers, inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs to know how to convert research findings into product and services.
Earlier, the Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Sierra Leone, Prof. Alpha Tejan Wurie said the purpose of his visit is to deepen collaboration between both countries in STI and higher education.
He further said that his country could learn a lot from Nigeria’s expertise in STI development.
