Nigerian engineers have urged the Federal Government to adopt, standardise and commercialise indigenous innovations and inventions to speed up the growth and prosperity of the sector.

The engineers also recommended that public-private sector collaboration be vigorously pursued and encouraged by government at all levels to advance local production of agricultural, manufacturing, communication and surveillance systems through policy initiatives and incentives.

Rising from the third biennial international conference of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, participants said that from their observations, Nigeria needs relief from the dwindling human development index.

They added that although the economy holds immense potential for growth and diversification, it is currently vulnerable because of its over-reliance on unmanufactured export and imported consumer goods.

The three-day conference, with the theme, ‘Engineering for Sustainable Economy, Security and Agricultural Development’, provided the platform for the over 1,651 participants, comprising frontline researchers, policymakers, captains of industry, government functionaries, farmers and students within and outside Nigeria to network, exchange knowledge and explore opportunities to eliminate human treats through engineering innovations.

The conference explained that Nigeria needs sustainable economic practices and national strategy for empowerment of citizens, stressing that the country’s engineering research outputs are crucial in enhancing Gross Domestic Products (GDP), cyber and food security indices of the nation.

At the conference, the technical sessions featured a lead paper presentation by the Executive Director/CEO National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM) Ilorin, Dr. Kamal Abdulgafar Rasheed, just as it featured 93 other papers.