Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has said Nigeria needs to translate ideas into products and services that are needed most in the market place by commercialisation of research findings.
The minister said this Thursday in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the Science and Technology Innovation Expo scheduled to take place from March 16 to March 20 in Abuja.
Onu stated that there were many research findings available in a number of research institutes in the country which investors needed to see.
He said he wanted the investors to find a way to convert such research findings into products so that the country could be self sufficient and produce the things imported into the country.
“ Nigeria is a great nation and we cannot continue to be importing things from other countries. We must be in a position to replace many of the things we buy from outside.
“We want to produce many of the things we need in Nigeria and then export the surplus to other nations,’’ he said.
Onu emphasised that it needed to be so because, “we have the largest market in this continent and we have one of the largest population in the world.’’
He also noted that Nigeria must strive to grow its export market and continue with President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to diversify the economy.
He said the country’s economy since independence remained a mono product economy due to the reliance on agricultural products.
“But now we need to use our brains to add value to all these products and then convert our cocoa, for example to chocolate, convert our palm oil to so many chemicals etc.’’
He stated that the Science and Technology Innovation Expo coming up “is a very important event, not just for science and technology but for the nation’’.
Onu stressed that he was drawing the attention of the nation to this very important event which had been taking place since he became Minister. (NAN)
