The Nigerian government has renamed the Ministry of Science and Technology as Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
The minister in charge, Ogbonnaya Onu, disclosed this during a press briefing on Friday in Abuja.
Onu said the name was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari to bring about a shift in research and development that is industry and services’ demand-driven.
This ministry was first created as a separate ministry in 1985.
The minister said President Buhari has given the rebranded ministry the responsibility of overseeing that the innovation agenda of the Nation is achieved.
He said Nigeria will achieve a significant level of poverty alleviation after renaming the ministry and its new responsibilities.
Onu said the development will help 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.
He said this development will enable the reviewing of legal and policy frameworks as backup for institutional and organisational arrangements, effective coordination of the National Science and Innovation in the country.
He noted that there had been a missing link with statutory responsibility of the ministry and the change of name would address it.
“When we succeed in achieving this, it will lead us to R&D breakthroughs and inventions that are commercialisable. With the right policy and legal framework to protect intellectual property rights we can effectively promote commercialization in all activity sectors in the value chain for supply of raw materials, goods and services,” he said.
Onu noted that the result of the rebranding will generate irreversible indigenous industrialization, an adequate platform for higher productivity, improvement in value added components of the economy and job creation.
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