MINISTER of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has said that the ministry will deploy science, technology and innovation to actualise President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of freeing 100 million Nigerians from poverty trap.
The minister gave the assurance while addressing supervising directors, heads of agencies and staff of the ministry, in Abuja.
He said: “There is no way you can move Nigeria out of poverty without the input of science and technology. It is science, technology and innovation that will help us to create new technologies and those new technologies will now be the basis of new status.
“That is to say new enterprises and entrepreneurs will now grow by using those new technologies”.
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He further explained that the smaller businesses created would grow from medium to large scale, thereby enhancing wealth creation, poverty alleviation and improvement in Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
Onu reiterated the ministry’s commitment to leverage on the Federal Government’s first four years’ objectives of growing the economy, securing the nation, fighting corruption and having a transparent government, saying that the ministry would play a pivotal role in driving these objectives to ensure optimum contribution to the development of the country in areas of science, technology and innovation.
The minister said for Nigeria to sustain its status as the largest economy in Africa, it needed to improve its productivity through science and technology.
He said: “The difference between developed and developing countries is the application of science and technology. Developed countries apply science and technology to everything they do while developing countries do not have sufficient application of science and technology.”