By Emmanuel Elebeke
LAGOS state ministry of science and technology has  announced  plans to hold the 2009 national science and technology week.
The state  commissioner for science and technology, Dr. Kadri Hamzat said it has become imperative to give Nigerian students proper orientation about science and technology at foundation level before their  choice of career in the area of science and technology.

Hamzat who attributed the slow development of science and technology in Nigeria to the  insensitivity of the government also attributed students fear of  science subjects to lack of orientation and called on  government and parents  awareness for students to enable them make right choice of career on science courses.

“As a nation, we are not growing as we should because we have refused to develop our potentials in the area of science  and technology and by not building our children to embrace the shift to science and technology. This is the only way we can tackle unemployment because the reason we have high unemployment rate in Nigeria is because most graduates studied what their employers do not need.” he stated.

The essence of the science and technology week  according to him, is to create proper awareness at primary and secondary school level of education with the aim of giving them reason for choosing their career.

, adding that the event would also serve as an incubation centre where small and medium scale enterprises, inventors ; researchers and students will converge.

The theme of the event is  “Energy and the Environment: Tools for Sustainable Development,”. According to the commissioner, activities expected to feature in the three days event include: quiz competition among some selected schools in the