Nigeria’s future hinges on innovation — Minister

Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has stated that the success of Nigeria’s vision and development agenda is largely dependent on research and innovation.

He urged all tertiary institutions and research institutes in the country to align with the reforms of President Bola Tinubu’s administration by tailoring their teachings, research, and innovations towards addressing the nation’s development challenges.

Speaking on Monday in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the maiden National Research Fair/Exhibition organised by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the minister highlighted how Europe, North America, and Asia leveraged research and innovation to achieve their current development levels.

He said: “Permit me to share with you that, once upon a time, not so many centuries ago, there was a poor continent. Its name was Europe. Then it discovered three things: the rule of law, the free market, and research-based innovation. Now it is rich.

“The same thing later happened in North America, with the same consequences, and it is now happening in Asia. The success of our vision and development agenda largely depends on whether Nigeria will also learn from these experiences.”

The minister called on “funding and financial institutions, including commercial banks, to reform their support to strategically help Nigerians establish small and medium enterprises using home-grown technologies.”

He also appealed to international development partners to reform their assistance to align with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, stressing the need for Nigerian youth to acquire relevant capacities and skills for national development.

Dr. Alausa added: “The core strategy of the Federal Ministry of Education, through the successes of TETFund and other relevant institutions, is to focus on the dire needs and opportunities presented by the administration of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in making research and innovation the major driver of our economy and the ultimate industrialization of Nigeria.

“This National Research Fair is a clarion call to all tertiary institutions and research institutes in Nigeria to align with the reforms of Mr. President, ensuring their teaching, research, and innovations are applied, practical, and effective in addressing the development challenges in our country.”

The minister pledged to sustain the fair as an annual national event and said efforts would be made to sensitise Nigerians, particularly the youth, to take advantage of its outcomes for economic development.

He continued: “I am highly inspired by the deliberate intention and reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through this specific effort of TETFund to encourage our academia to respond to core critical needs for national development.

“It is this inspiration and the recognition of the important stakes you all hold in achieving results on these reforms that has encouraged us to deliberately support the TETFund National Research Fair, with specific reference to the role of universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and even individual and community innovations.”

Dr. Alausa explained that the National Research Fair aligns with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by domesticating local research outcomes to create jobs, generate wealth, and strengthen the economy. He stressed that research and innovation systems define whether countries are categorised as first, second, or third world, as they determine the quality of life and the global status of nations.

He reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to integrating research outcomes into policy formulation and implementation across all fields of national endeavour.

“Sustaining the impact of these efforts will depend on the vigour of national strategies to acquire technology and domesticate required technologies through timely commercialization and technology transfer,” he stated.

“As leaders, we aspire to deliver goods, services, and lifelong opportunities to our people. We promise them clean drinking water, food security, gainful jobs, adequate health care services, good education, good roads, and more.

“Little do we know that we are actually talking about borehole drilling rigs, water pumps, water tanks, water treatment chemicals, agricultural production and processing equipment, storage facilities, reduction of farm drudgery and losses, quality processing of food materials, establishment of industries, manufacturing facilities, drugs, medicines, and more — all of which are products of dynamic research and innovation.”