The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, says countries that have demonstrated growth in technology and intellectual property are most targeted for investment.
Onu, while speaking at the 2018 commemoration of African Day in Abuja, said technology and intellectual property rights had taken a global dimension in determining the position of a nation and regions of investment by multinational corporations.
According to him, the celebration demonstrates the great importance which the African nations place on science, technology and innovation as an engine that drives development.
“With the increasing importance of knowledge as the main engine of growth in the 21st century, the decision of African leaders to declare a day for the commemoration of the role of technology and intellectual property in achieving sustainable development in Africa is a positive stride,” the minister said.
He stressed that in today’s knowledge-based economy and global business environment, absorption of new technology had become a veritable component for companies to survive and maintain their competitive positions in the marketplace.
“Nations are no longer valued in terms of their population, geographical landmass or mineral resources but on the organic mass of knowledge in its citizenry,” Onu said.
The Director General, NOTAP, Dr Ibrahim DanAzumi, said his office decided to assemble the secondary school children for the exhibition to inculcate the culture of innovation in them for the development of the country.
He reiterated that countries of the world that had been able to make an imprint in the area of science and technology development no doubt started with a step.
According to him, the kind of product prototypes exhibited by young Nigerian innovators at the celebration of African day is an indication that Nigeria shall soon join the league of industrialised nations of the world.
“What is expected of the Nigerian government is to sustain this event by making adequate budgetary allocation to NOTAP and Science and Technology Ministry as a whole so that researchers and innovators can be encouraged to continue with further development of their inventions,” he added.
In the same vein, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr Bitrus Nabasu, said no nation could develop without adequate deployment of science, technology and innovation.