‘Nigeria’s natural resource export shrinking economy’

Minister of State for of Science and Technology, Mohammed Abdullahi has advocated a synergy among the government, industry and academia to diversify the economy.
  
He lamented that relying on natural resources is responsible for the country’s exposure to economic instability. Abdullahi spoke yesterday at the opening ceremony of a virtual workshop on Government-Industry-Academia (GIA) Linkage, organised by the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) themed ‘fostering technological development through government-industry-academia (triple helix) linkages in Nigeria’.
  
He noted that it was sad that Nigeria, despite its huge, abundant human and material resources for nation-building, is troubled by instability.
  
According to him, any nation that wants to diversify economically puts research and innovation on the front burner of its developmental agenda through efficient collaboration among academia, industry and government. He noted that globally, scientific and technological breakthroughs “are achieved through research and development.
  
The minister stressed that the challenges of all-around sustainable development faced by Nigeria and the long-term character of research activities called for strategic approaches to research and innovation for diversification of the nation’s economy.
   
He said: “the only available option to change this trajectory is enhancing the diversification of our dear nation’s economy through application and deployment of cutting-edge research and innovation in all sectors of the economy.
 
“Research is a fundamental part of national development. To get the needed impacts on society, research must be demand-driven and tailored towards solving societal problems and improve the quality of life of citizens. It has been irrefutably proven that ground-breaking research and commercialization of research outcomes are bringing a paradigm shift in today’s world and any nation wishing to develop and grow at a fast pace must opt for solution-based research.

“There is no better time for research than now when Nigerians are trying to look inwards to find alternatives by using locally developed technologies to solve national problems and challenges. For the national economy, research and innovation could yield new technologies and products, generate solutions to existing challenges and boost the global competitiveness of its goods and services.”
   
Director-General of NACETEM, Prof. Okechukwu Ukwuoma corroborated that the synergy among the government, industry and academia would bring about a radical change in the country’s approaches to science, technology and innovation.