PPP veritable instrument in fast tracking STIs ―Onu

DR Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology says Public Private Partnership (PPP) is a veritable instrument in fast tracking Science, Technology and Innovations (STIs) in the country.

A statement issued Mr Raymond Ogbu of the Communications and Protocol Unit, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), quoted the minister as making the assertion.

Onu spoke against the backdrop of the successes recorded in the partnership between NOTAP and PZ Cussons Nigeria plc.

The minister said this at the commissioning ceremony of the upgraded Chemical Laboratory equipment donated to the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Zaria by PZ Cussons Nigeria plc.

He said that no country could develop if it constantly depended on products coming from other countries without  strategic plans for domestication of foreign technologies.

He said that globally, emphasis had shifted from resource based economy to knowledge based economy and no country would be reckoned with if not technologically relevant and competitive.

The Director-General of NOTAP, Dr DanAzumi Ibrahim said that over 90 per cent of the Nigerian economy was powered by foreign technology and there should be gradual transfer and domestication of foreign technology.

He said that the partnership started when NOTAP noticed that most of the research and laboratory analysis of the multinationals in Nigeria were carried out outside the country due to lack of well-equipped laboratory equipment.

The D-G said that in order to launch Nigeria into the league of technological self-reliance nations, there was need for the multinationals to give back to the society.

He said that this can be done through corporate social investment.

“PZ Cussons Plc. responded by donating the sum of N115 million for equipment and logistics for upgrading of chemical laboratories of the University of Calabar.

“Moddibo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH) and National Institute for Chemical Research (NARICT), Zaria; the Institutions have been fully equipped and commissioned,’’ he said.

He commended PZ Cussons for the show of commitment and partnership to the Nigerian nation.

He said that it was through such partnership that Nigeria would be able to transform knowledge into socio-economic solutions.

The Chief Executive Officer of PZ Cussons, Mr Christos Giannopoulos, said PZ Cussons was involved with supporting research and education as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Giannopoulos said that in the last few years, the company had executed 55 capital projects spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country, adding that 80 per cent of the projects were in the area of education development.

The partnership between the two organisations started with a memorandum of understanding between the two organisations, UNICAL and NARIC.

The programme was expanded also to the upgrade of the laboratory equipment of Moddibo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH) Yola.