Most inventions by agencies under the Ministry of Science,Technology and Innivation are lying in dusty shelves on account of lack of investors,its Minister Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora,has said.
He spoke on Tuesday at the ministerial media briefing anchored by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has a challenge taking research outputs to the market, noting that it is only when such action is taken that it would be seen as doing something.
He also said,while the ministry would continue to engage the relevant stakeholders, it is also toying with a piece of legislation that would compel protection of the inventions before pushing them to the market.
Speaking on what was being done with all the several inventions by the ministry, Mamora said: “What do we do with all these inventions? It’s a question that we have also been pondering about. It will interest you that virtually all our agencies have come up with one invention or the other.
“But the challenge had always been taking these research outputs to the market. Because until and unless we are able to take them to the market, we would not be seen to have been able to do something.”
Mamora,who said that the ministry’s steps may be slow,added: “We need to do more in terms of having that handshake between the research institutions and the market through investors and those who are interested – people that move around with their capital and would want to invest.
“So, it’s a challenge that we know we are still facing which we will need to do more. We have so many outputs that are still gathering dust in shelves in various agencies. So, what we are doing is to continue to engage, to continue to have fora for these engagements where we can bring all stakeholders together.”
He emphasized the need for people to be aware of the inventions and desire them.
He said:”We are also looking at how we can compel, as it were, a little bit of legislation that once these things are available particularly if they are protected because we also need to protect the intellectual property, we can just push them to the markets.
“So, the challenge is about getting investors that will take these inventions out there and these things can then be useful to our people.
Again, we also have a duty in terms of our own nationalism.
“One of the challenges again is that we have developed taste that is not local. Rather, taste that is alien. We have this tendency to want to get something from abroad. Again, I think government will need to really come hard in terms of a total banning, as it were, of things that we have capacity to do locally. That is why nationalism comes in.”
Soludo Blames Rising Inflation On FG’s Recklessness
Professor Chukwuma Soludo,the Anambra State governor on Tuesday accused the federal government of plunging the nation into inflation with recklessness on account of huge borrowings and debt mismanagement.
Soludo,the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN,disclosed this while chairing a panel session at the ongoing 2023 Induction Programme for incoming and returning governors in Abuja.
He also said the Debt Management Office (DMO) ought to be federation agency rather than an agency of the federal government in order for it to be able to effectively police both states and federal government according to the rules of debt management.
He said,being an agency of the federal government the DMO is unable to police debt, more substantive issues of debt that actually cripples everybody else in the country.
He added that the DMO ought to be a federation agency like the NSIA instead of being an arm of the federal government.
“It is the federal government’s recklessness, you know you set out all these bench marks, Debt service to revenue 40%, this and that, they only enforce them in respect to the state. And then, the federal government breaks them with reckless abandone. Even not just the regulating of the DMO, they break the law recklessly and nobody holds them to account.
“And they say let’s hold the states, and say you don’t exceed this, you don’t exceed this. And they go and take trillions and pour in and then inflation swallows all of us. It’s big issues for us to discuss in the future so I don’t envy you DG” he said.
Speaking,Ms. Patience Oniha, Debt Management Office (DMO),highlighted the guidelines governing both domestic and foreign borrowings by both the state and the federal governments.
According to her, provisions must be made for debt servicing and the state must operate within the limits of 40% debt service to revenue ration.
The DMO boss also noted that her agency do debt sustainability analysis in collaboration with other relevant agencies, where debt management performance assessment is critically, adding that all of these are tools of the World Bank.
She advised the incoming governors to always borrow for investments rather than consumption.
“It is extremely important that you prioritize expenditure. You should not borrow for consumption rather you borrow for investments” she said.