By Emma Elebeke

Experts at a one-day training organized for the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, RMRDC staff in Abuja last week said, the future of Nigerian economy will depend on technology research, innovation and development.

Though, they acknowledged that research is capital intensive, they maintained that Nigeria must begin now to inculcate the habit of research in the youth and also engage both local and international research agencies in research and development,  since government cannot do it alone, without collaboration with other stakeholders.

A members of the House of Representatives, Hon. Osai Nicholas Osai,  while speaking at the programme, said that the role of Raw Material Research and Development in a developing economy, cannot be under estimated, considering its role in sustaining the industrial sector.

He said there are little Nigerian can do in area of development, without research and development and harped on the need for collaboration between government agencies and private sector.

He recommended that there should be a conscious effort by the researchers to make raw materials available at all time, since human existence depends largely on such wants and needs.

‘‘ Raw materials drive production and production drives the economy, the projected crises that may arise as a results of shortage in raw materials have led to the quest for researchers and development to sustain the available ones and develop new ones to avert industrial and economic crisis,’’ he said.

As a factor of production, constant research and development, Hon. Osai urged RMRDC to constantly fashion out ways to promote utilization of the locally sourced raw materials by encouraging massive researches.

As a government agency saddled with the responsibility of developing and sustaining and retraining of her staff, he also urged RMRDC to engage in the training and retraining of her staff to meet up with modern realities.

In his remarks, the Executive Director, African Technology Policy Studies, ATPS Network, Prof. Kevin Urama said the training of RMRDC staff and building of other local capacity in area of research and development, Nigeria can create enormous wealth and unlock hidden potentials of the youth for economy prosperity.

He said that research has been the engine of growth all over the world and can not be underestimated my Nigeria, if it truly desires to lead the rest of Africa and compete favourably with the rest of the world.

‘‘The Europeans and the Western have come to Africa to take raw materials to grow their economy. Now, it is time for Africa to begin to use these raw materials  to harness what is available to us to also grow our own economy.,’’ he said.

While stressing the importance of collaboration with international agencies in research findings, Prof. Arama said that innovation does not occur in the main stream but in the interaction of actors.

To him, Nigerian has all it takes to emerge world giant and become self reliant not only in technology advancement but also in research and development.

He however, commended the RMRDC for its feat in research and development and urged government to give it more support. He equally called on the private sector to work more closer with the agency to tap more from its benefits.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Director General of RMRDC, Prof. Peter Onwualu said in terms of achievement and implementation of projects, the agency had done a lot to improve the local content through innovation, research and development, despite all the disbelieves in some quarters.

Prof. Onwualu, who expressed optimism in the capability of local suppliers of raw materials in Nigeria, said that the impact of the agency’s efforts had already started yielding fruits, with the increasing inflow of foreign direct investment into the country in various sectors.

‘‘In terms of the quantum of the expected impact and a number of challenges facing the industry, one thing that keeps me to talk about local sourcing of raw materials is that there is an inflow of foreign direct investment into Nigeria because people have realised why they need to invest in the country courtesy of our efforts.

‘‘There is a missing link in the Nigeria manufacturing industry. Building Africa’s science, technology and innovation is critical today fro sustainable African development. That is why we want to harness the resources available to us,’’ he added.

He therefore, called on the private sector and corporate bodies to liaise with the African Technology Policy Studies Network, ATPSN to tap from its resources.