Ogbonnaya Onu
By Emmanuel Elebeke
Nigeria on Monday joined the rest of the world in marking the World Science day in Abuja, with the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, pledging that the Federal Government will prioritise science education in the country.
Dr Onu said the celebration of the World Science Day was to emphasise the benefits of Science, Technology and Innovation to human development, adding that science is crucial to solving both economic and security challenges facing the country.
According to Dr Onu, the Federal Government is also putting in a lot of effort to encourage the promotion and participation of the girl child in Science, Technology and Innovation programmes in the country.
He added that the application of science and technology was crucial to defeating poverty, unemployment and security challenges facing the country.
“We are raising the consciousness of our people to embrace Science, Technology and Innovation”.
On the current security challenges facing the country, Dr Onu stressed the importance of intelligence gathering, surveillance and transmission of same using science and technology.
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Dr Onu also said that Nigeria was edging closer to meeting the African Union’s (AU) resolution that member states should allocate at least 1% of their GDP to the development of STI.
The Minister also eulogised the efforts made by the Ministry in the management of Covid-19.
He explained that claims of cure for the coronavirus by 57 indigenous organisations are already being subjected to examination by the Ministry in conjunction with the Nigerian Academy of Science.
He informed that the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) an agency of the Ministry had, through reverse-engineering, successfully developed high-quality ventilators.
“We have also recorded success in developing a new and faster method of testing Covid-19; therefore Nigeria must be counted among the countries that contributed positively to solving the global challenge of Covid-19,” he added.
