FG to establish 6 Technology & Innovation Centres – Minister

The Federal Government on Monday unveiled plans to establish six Technology and Innovation Centres for global competitiveness across the country.

The centres, which would be built across the six geopolitical zones of the country, will seek to commercialise researches conducted by institutions of higher learning in the country to help small enterprises to use them for economic progress.

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Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu disclosed this in Kano when he paid a courtesy call on the state Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

According to him, “We need to commercialise these findings not only as a way of reducing importation from abroad, but in creating jobs to our youths.

“These centres will be driven by the industrial needs of our country. Our hope is that these centres will help Nigeria’s products compete globally with others produced in any part of the world, or even better.

“For northwest, the centre will be located in Kano because of how it stands out as commercial centre of Northern Nigeria and even in some parts of West Africa and its relative peace.

“The centres will make sure that all researches that are good enough are converted into products.”

The Minister also said the initiative is part of the present administration’s commitment in lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.

Dr Onu also said the centres will have the mandate of creating small and medium enterprises who will later grow to become big enterprises.

“We will invite all the entrepreneurs in the country, present all the raw materials and show them how to use them to create goods and services. Even the largest corporations in the world started like this before the grow,” the Minister added.

He explained that if succeeded, the initiative will help restore the value of Naira through massive exportation of goods outside the country.

Responding, the state Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje thanked the Federal Government for initiating the centre and selecting his state to host the northwest geopolitical zone of the centre.

Also during the visit, the Minister had interactive session with academics of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Yusuf Maitama Sule University Kano (YUMSUK) and Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil on ways of commencing the project.