Low hanging technology fruits can create 1m jobs in Nigeria, NOTAP

By Emeka Aginam
While nations of the world depend on output from local content for global competitiveness
, participants at the just concluded national workshop on strenthening innovation  and capacity building  in the manufacturing sector rose up from the conference, saying that unemployment will remain unabted in the system except attention is paid to low  hanging technology fruits which have the capacity  to create one million jobs acrooss different sectors of the Nigerian economy .

Dr Bindir

Those low hanging fruits according to the workshop are not limited to technologies and outputs from research & development,(R&D)   universities, polytechnics and research institutes, including agricultural processing technologies, mineral processing technologies, ICT and software, among others.

Participants at the workshop organised by National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), an agency under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology  in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) noted among other things that unemployment will remain unabated in the country unless the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy pays special attention to the  low hanging technology fruits that have the capacity to produce one million jobs if well utilized.

However, the  workshop which had no fewer than 143 participants in attendance from the academia, industries and public institutions was aimed at synergizing views for capacity building in the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) system for poverty alleviation through the creation of employment opportunities, growth of indigenous firms and local value addition to national resources in the manufacturing sector of the economy.

While technology innovation continues to be a neglected field for many years, speaker after speaker at the capacity building event noted that  science, technology and innovation are key foundation for industrialiation and wealth creation of any nation.

Earlier in his address, the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Mohamed Kaoje Abubakar, told the capacity audience he expects the recommendation from the workshop would assist Nigeria in her quest to reduce the tremendous capital flight in terms of importation of foreign technology that the nation continues to witness.

According to the Minister, Nigeria stands to gain a lot from low hanging technology fruits especially local software products to create employment for all.

Over dependency, according to him, has been the bane of growth and innovation.  “There are little in-house R&D efforts going in Nigerian industries. The industries may have quality control and testing unites but there are hardly any serious R&D investments in industries.

There are no deliberate attempts to engage in technological learning from imported technologies. Only skills for basic routine operations are internalised” the Minister said.
For the Director General,  National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, NOTAP, Dr. Umar Buba Bindir, untapped local software products if well utilised can create jobs for millions of Nigerian graduates who now are conscious of travelling overseas for greener pastures.
NOTAP DG in his presentation noted that low hanging technology fruits will not only create one million jobs but will also make Nigeria globally competitiveness.

“The low hanging ripe “technology” fruits are the technologies and outputs of R&D from our Universities, Polytechnics and Research Institutes, such as Agricultural processing technologies, mineral processing technologies, ICT and softwares, etc.

Nigeria should be competitive enough to create employment using what it has in the  knowledge economy.
“A knowledge economy literally is where you display the availability of the critical mass of technical competence in managing any sector!

It is about the use of high level ICT to ensure that we know everything about our economy and we have the technocrats to solve all our problems. “So the vision 20-2020 is literally an undertaking by the Government to change the Nigerian economy from the highly trading and consuming economy to a technically powerful and producing ecomony.

This is knowledge economy Nigeria”. Dr. Bindir, who noted that there should be state of emergency in our educational sector, said there was  no way we can  solve all our technical problems such as refining our crude, to stop importing petrol, ensuring the full delivery of power instead of using foreigners and foreign technologies, modernizing our agriculture, among others  without raising the level of capacity, skills and competencies of our people.

“That energy is provided by the education system. We need better engineers, doctors, economists, pilots, farmers etc. all of whom must come as a result of the outputs of our education system.

“To achieve these improvements and ensure that Nigerians can do all these, we have to invest heavily in our education at all levels, and that cannot be achieved by the yearly budgets that we do. So we need to declare the system in a state of emergency so that we can invest realistically to raise the standards”, he said.

Also in his presentation Thierry Amoussougbo,  Regional Advisor, ICT, Science and Technology Division, UNECA , told the capacity audience that Africa is lagging behind in the global competitiveness adding that, 80 per cent of low human development countries those with low income, low literacy, low life expectancy and high population growth rates —  are in Africa.

According to him, technology could be used to boost agricultural production thereby providing employment for the people.

“Africa loses an average of  70,000 skilled personnel a year. In the 1960s, Africa was not just self-sufficient in food but was actually a net food exporter, its exports averaging 1.3 million tons a year between 1966-70.

Today, the continent imports 25 per cent of its food” he said, adding that there is need  of applied STI to address these challenges and translate the opportunities into wealth creation and economic growth. However, basic STI indicators show that Africa is not well performing, he said.

Meanwhile, the workshop observed the following:
*Science, technology and innovation are key foundation for industrialization and wealth creation of any nation.

*The linkages and interaction between industries and academic and research institutions are very weak.

*The manufacturing sector, which consists of various spheres of production activities is the main engine of economic growth in Nigeria.

*That no effort is made towards upgrading the skills in the Nigerian industries by using local technologies.

*That Nigerian economy is characterized by huge population, high poverty level, weak infrastructure, policy inconsistency,  challenges of educational system and weak industrial base.

*Most of the multinationals operating in Nigeria source their technical know-how from abroad while indigenous companies who cannot afford the expenses end up being taken over by expatriates or fold up.

*Nigeria has not been able to evolve an indigenous Technology Know-how to tackle problems such as incessant lack of water supply, modernization of farming methods, efficient market system and low establishment of cottage industries.

*Lack of utilization of local raw materials and inadequate government policies have resulted in making Nigerian industries to be import dependent, among others.
Similarly, the  workshop therefore, recommended that:

*Government should declare state of emergency in the education sector so as to build a critical mass of talented personnel.

*Government should strengthen R&D investment through the creation of National Science Foundation (funded by  1per cent of GDP per year) advocated by the UN and AU.

*Government should strengthen innovation system infrastructure to encourage emergence of innovation clusters.

*Government should give priority attention to the development of certain sectors  of the economy with comparative advantage such as agriculture and food technology.

*Industries operating in Nigeria should be encouraged to support  R&D activities locally and source for local raw materials for their production process.
*There is need to facilitate linkages and collaboration between academic and research institutes and the industries.

*Government should introduce entrepreneurial courses both at the secondary school level and at higher institutions so that fresh graduates can fit into the industry or become self employed.

*Government should review the national S&T policy with emphasis on NIS in order to strengthen and enhance innovation capacity of the country.

*NOTAP should develop a national database of PhD holders and researchers in Nigeria and key stakeholders in order to aid effective planning of National Science, Technology and Innovation programmes

*Government should demonstrate more political will and commitment in the implementation of S&T policies.

*Government should increase investment in the educational system to enhance production of the required quality, graduates needed in the industries.

*Government should focus on the use of STI to address the problems of poverty, unemployment and poor infrastructure in the country.

*Government should explore the utilisation of its enormous Bioresources and Genetic resources to boost agricultural productivity, food security and health care.

*NOTAP should coordinate all activities relating to  Intellectual Property Rights Protection of indigenous inventions in the country.

*Government should provide the enabling environment for research and development activities to thrive in Nigeria.