By Emmanuel Elebeke & Amarachukwu Nwankwo
ABUJA —  The Federal Government is to save about N1.2 trillion, annually from a locally made over-speed alert.

The new device, called Ikani-Engine Contactless Over Speed Alert, ECOSAD,  was designed by a Nigerian, Sunday Agada, of MAC Nigeria Limited.

Ogbonnaya Onu

Presenting the device to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, in Abuja, yesterday, Agada said the conception started 10 years ago and had reached 90 percent completion.

According to him, the new device is expected to inject about N400 billion into the economy, when commercialised.

He said the commercialization of the product in Nigeria would save about N200 billion every two months from the 12,000 registered vehicles by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, whose owners currently buy the imported device at the rate of N35,000 compared to the local brand that would sell for N15,000.

He said the device would help to  reduce road crashes and avoidable deaths, which usually occur due to the deficiency of the existing device.

Responding, Dr. Onu called on Nigerian investors to build technology companies to enable inventors commercialise their patents and create job opportunities.

He also reiterated his call on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, to enlist all technology companies to encourage upcoming innovators and boost revenue generation for government.

He said: “I am happy with this device, which is going to reduce road crashes and save lives and property on our roads.”

“We must take our environment into consideration for any invention. I have said it repeatedly that we need to produce all technology we need   because some of the imported ones cannot function well here considering the fact that the data collected before they were designed were not collected here. But if we do our research here, the services we get will be better.

“I call on our entrepreneurs to invest in proven innovations in order not to allow foreigners to commercialise them,” he said.