By Emmanuel Elebeke & Alice Ekpang

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has said that the forthcoming Science and Technology Expo being organized by the Ministry, will provide ample opportunities for unemployed Nigerians to acquire the needed skills to actualize their potentials.

Dr. Onu, said the envisaged technological innovations to be displayed at the event could be tapped into by all unemployed youths to enable them become employers of labour themselves. He therefore urged the youths to attend the Expo to leverage on the opportunities therein.

The minister spoke while inspecting facilities put in place for the Expo at Eagle Square, Abuja.

Nigeria, he added, is blessed with good weather, mineral resources and fertile and productive land.

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‘‘There is no region or State that is not blessed with one resource or the other. We expect the Expo to attract inventors, innovators and investors from Secondary Schools, Polytechnics, Tertiary institutions and manufacturing sector who are putting their brains to task and expect encouragement and support from Nigerians.’’

Onu expressed satisfaction with the extent of work so far done at the venue and assured Nigerians that though Science Technology and Innovation Expo had been a yearly event, this year’s own Expo will be better than the previous ones.

“We have not been able to maximize our intelligence enough to ensure that Nigeria can convert all these abundant resources into products that we need for our everyday life” he added.

He further expressed happiness that President Muhammadu Buhari has recognized Science, Technology and Innovation as the key to the development of our nation, adding that the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology is working very hard to support Mr. President to achieve these noble goals.

He also added that the ministry had made Nigerians to rely less on commodities and put emphasis more on knowledge in order to create wealth, jobs for the future generation, stressing that Nigerians had for long depended on commodities without making tangible progress.

Dr. Onu declared that the ministry was set to make Nigeria a leading nation in the world, if we can combine our abundant natural resources with the knowledge-based economy, we will be in a position to create enough wealth for our nation and for Nigerians.

He reassured that the Expo is very important because it will make Nigerians to realize the objectives of being self-reliant and be less dependent on import and  further provide opportunity for inventors, innovators and investors to rub minds on how to use outputs of research to positively impact the economy.

Vanguard