The overseeing Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Idowu Afe, has called on African Countries to look inwards by inventing their technologies locally in order to tackle over-dependence on the importation of goods and services.
Afe said this when the delegates from the African Agricultural Technology foundation (AATF) from Ghana visited the Ministry to understudy Biotech Cowpea technology developed by the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA).
The overseeing Permanent Secretary, who received the delegates on behalf of the Ministry, said that in the last couple of years, the ministry has developed and implemented several policies; one of which is the 2022 revised National Science Technology Innovation Policy (NSTIP).
Afe told the delegates that the policies developed by the Ministry are key to the transformation of the country from a commodity to a knowledge based economy.
He further added that the ministry is at the forefront of harmonizing her research output by commercializing them.
Earlier, the Regional Representative of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) Dr. Frances Onyekachi Nwankwo said that the purpose of their visit is to collaborate in the area of Agricultural technology and the deployment of new technologies in order to promote high yielding agricultural products for farmers in Africa.