The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology on Friday has changed its name now to Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, FMSTI, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu in his speech to declare its new name.
According to Onu, in 2017, the Federal Executive Council, under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, approved the National Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap (NSTIR 2017 2030).
“This was to use Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to catalyse Nigeria’s Economic Growth and Competitiveness. This document laid out a core policy for driving positive socio-economic outcomes through
“Science, Technology and Innovation initiatives in all activity sectors of the economy. This has necessitated the Ministry’s change of name from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology to the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (FMSTI) which has now been approved by Mr. President.
“This new development will require the Ministry to drive the Innovation Agenda The FMSTI will embark on a branding campaign, in line with its expected mandate and its role in ensuring that there is improvement in productivity, economic growth and societal development through Science, Technology and Innovation.
“This change of name will help us to meet the needs of other sectors of the Nigerian economy and all stakeholders, by supporting the generation and application of knowledge and innovation to solve socio-economic challenges, as well as providing a policy and funding environment that will establish the National System of Innovation (NSI). As an enabler of government, society and industry through policy, the FMSTI will also focus on ensuring the provision of STI-based solutions to overcome international, national and societal challenges.
“This approval of the change of name will be gazetted to enable legal and policy frameworks as back-up for institutional and organisational arrangements, effective coordination of the NSI, development of appropriate work programmes and job descriptions. This development will help us bring about a shift in Research and Development (R&D) that is industry and services’ demand-driven, resulting in rapid commercialization and ultimately improved global competitiveness ranking of Nigeria.
“We all know that there has been a missing link with the statutory responsibility of the Ministry. This decision by the President will ensure that the missing link will be adequately addressed. mitially, Science and Technology (S&T) remained our domain. However, only S&T cannot move the nation to its desired global competitiveness level. Hence, ST&I will spark off a demand-driven knowledge-based economy, characterized by industry and services R&D programmes, projects and activities within the STI Ecosystem.
He explained that “when we succeed in achieving this, it will lead us to R&D breakthroughs and inventions that are commercializable. With the right policy and legal framework to protect intellectual property right, we can effectively promote commercialization in all activity sectors in the value chain for supply of raw materials, goods and services.
” Immediately we are able to commercialize R&D breakthroughs in Nigeria, the nation’s global competitiveness ranking will improve tremendously with varying degrees of development that are sustainable. Some of these will include:
“The STI Ecosystem will be robust enough to accommodate continuous system improvement, product quality enhancement and guaranteed standardisation of Made-In-Nigeria goods and services; Nigeria will experience irreversible indigenous industrialization; There will be adequate platform for higher productivity.