Science and technology roadmap
On Wednesday last week, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 13-year Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap for Nigeria. Addressing journalists after the FEC meeting, Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu said FEC observed that the country had always been compelled to contract major projects such as the building of refineries, roads and […]
On Wednesday last week, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 13-year Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap for Nigeria. Addressing journalists after the FEC meeting, Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu said FEC observed that the country had always been compelled to contract major projects such as the building of refineries, roads and bridges to foreign companies. Onu decried this negative trend of underdevelopment, which he said is one of the reasons that prompted FEC to approve the 13-year blueprint, 2017-2030.
The minister explained the imperatives for the Roadmap which he said include rising rate of unemployment, worsening level of poverty and the country’s inability to build a self-reliant nation. “This Roadmap”, Onu said, “will prepare Nigeria to be a truly great nation where we will have the capacity to use the natural resources we have to meet our needs as a nation that is self-reliant.” According to him, current projections are that Nigeria will be the world’s ninth largest economy by 2050. This, of course, is not possible without science and technology. He said the difference between developed countries which are rich and developing nations which are poor is embedded in science and technology.
We commend the federal government for designing a blueprint for the scientific advancement and technological development of Nigeria even though this should have been done long ago. Our being a consumer nation over the years is a direct consequence of the lack of a well-articulated science and technology roadmap for the country. The result of this national failure includes being a periphery to developed economies and over-reliance on imported goods. Also critical is the burdensome pressure on the naira. The country’s dependence for decades on a single commodity economy, crude oil, is the worst experience in Nigeria’s history of underdevelopment.
But beyond all the imperatives advanced by the minister to justify the need for a roadmap is its implementation. What are the policy thrusts of the blueprint? How would the roadmap take the country strategically to where it should be? How could science and technology be applied to nation-building? The answers to these questions are critical to the success of any roadmap fashioned out by government for the country’s technological development.
Although FEC has approved the roadmap, thirteen years is a period too long for an administration which life-span does not, at most, extend beyond eight years. Even the National Development Plans we had in the past were each prepared for a period of five years. There is always the possibility of succeeding administrations abandoning the implementation of the Roadmap.
Besides, the country’s school curriculum must be repositioned to provide a solid intellectual foundation for the roadmap. For example, the learning of mathematics at the basic and secondary schools which Dr. Onu noted is disliked by many students must be re-structured to become friendlier because it is the subject upon which science and technology is built. The Roadmap is also unlikely to work without an industrialization policy. The nation’s manpower needs must be spelt out by the blueprint in the light of a technologically-driven economy.
Infrastructure is one basic requirement for the success of the Roadmap. Well-equipped laboratories and steady power supply are essential for the scientific and technological development of any nation. There must be a deliberate policy to improve upon its level of funding to universities and research institutes. While some countries including South Korea spend 4 percent of their GDP on research, Nigeria currently spends 0.22 percent of its GDP on research.
Strategic policies are also required to encourage, or where necessary, compel the private sector to fund research initiatives. The extent to which research findings reflect in government policies is equally important. The National Research and Innovation Fund must be made functional and secured from corrupt practices. These altogether could lead the country to a knowledge-based and innovation economy that will make Nigeria to take its proper place in the comity of technologically-driven nations.