Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, yesterday, called for ban on import of foreign goods that can be produced locally.
He told journalists at the State House, Abuja that the measure would protect indigenous inventions.
Mamora, who spoke at the ministerial media briefing anchored by the Presidential Communications Team, also regretted that most of the inventions by agencies under the ministry, are sadly, lying in dusty shelves due to lack of investors.
He said his ministry is constrained to take research outputs to the market.
According to him, while the ministry would continue to engage relevant stakeholders, it is also considering a piece of legislation that would compel protection of inventions before pushing them to the market.
On what was being done with previous ones, Mamora observed: “What do we do with all these inventions? It’s a question that we have also been pondering about. It will interest you that virtually, all our agencies have come up with one invention or the other.
“But the challenge has always been taking these research outputs to the market. Until and unless we are able to take them to the market, we would not be seen to have been able to do something.”
Noting that the ministry’s steps may be slow, the minister added: “We need to do more in terms of having that handshake between research institutions and market through investors and those who are interested – people that move around with their capital and would want to invest.
“So, it’s a challenge that we know we are still facing, which we will need to do more.
“We have so many outputs that are still gathering dust in shelves in various agencies. So, what we are doing is to continue to engage and have fora for these engagements.”
He stressed the need for people to be aware of the inventions and desire them, noting: “We are also looking at how we can compel, as it were, a little bit of legislation that once these things are available, particularly if they are protected, we can just push them to the market.”
