The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnanya Onu, on Wednesday, said the ministry would employ technology to harness the nation’s natural resources for growth of the economy. Onu stated this at a meeting with the Directors in the ministry in Abuja.
He said the nation would start producing and exporting instead of importing and consuming. “We export wood but we import toothpick, we export crude oil but we import petroleum products, we sell our cocoa but we import chocolate into this country, this can be very disturbing”, Onu said.
According to him, the missing link and key the nation needs to open the door of prosperity is science and technology. “We have all these raw materials, we have human capacity, we have large market, so in terms of growing our economy, reducing poverty, creating jobs, again, science and technology is vital.”
Onu also promised that the ministry would soon start creating weapons that could be of help in to the defence sector to tackle insurgencies. He said the ministry would collaborate with other ministries to support them, adding that science ministry was related to nearly all other ministries.
Onu said the ministry would also intensify effort to ensure that technology was employed to curb corruption. He urged all Nigerians to abide by law and appealed to the Permanent Secretary and the directors to work together in order to actualise stated objectives.
The Permanent Secretary, Mrs Habiba Lawal, assured that the staff members were ready to help the ministry to realise its aims in order to uplift the nation.
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