Minister tasks agencies on industry-driven research

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has tasked agencies under his ministry to be industry-driven in research so as to develop technology and promote innovation

Onu, who stated this when the President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mansur Ahmed, paid him a courtesy visit in his office yesterday in Abuja, said henceforth, research efforts by the ministry would be industry-driven and targeted at national needs, adding that this was to enable Nigeria stop the importation of what it could produce internally.

He said his ministry had produced a leather policy that is expected to boost the leather industry and spearhead industrialisation in the country and that the biotechnology cotton variety recently developed by the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NBDA) would go a long way in resuscitating our moribund textile industry and rejuvenate our cotton sector.

The President of MAN said the association wants a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the ministry for the purpose of improving and adding value to raw materials so as to boost industrialisation, stressing that the collaboration will help develop sub-sectors of the economy, which have the potentials to end the importation of finished products and create jobs.

In another development, the minister has said that Nigeria will reap enormous economic benefits if the proposed bill on the establishment of Chartered Computer Forensics Institute of Nigeria sails through.

Onu said this when he received a foremost computer forensic guru and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of First Techno-Law Forensics Co. Ltd, Dr. Peter Olayiwola who led members of Chartered Computer Forensics Institute of Nigeria on the visit yesterday in Abuja.

He added that the Executive Order 5 would enable Nigerian professionals in various fields who have the necessary skills and ability to benefit from a knowledge and innovation-driven economy being promoted by the Federal Government.He further said that the establishment of a Chartered Forensic Institute in Nigeria will enable Nigerian professionals handle forensic investigations rather than foreigners, adding that the institute is another avenue for Nigerian scientists, researchers, innovators and stakeholders in the sector to key in to aid cyber-crime investigations in Nigeria.

According to him, a committee, comprising some specialised agencies of the ministry, will be constituted to explore ways of boosting cyber security in the country, adding that when the forensic security is fully established, there would be job opportunities for the teeming Nigerian youths while the military would also be empowered to counter cyber warfare and other crimes.
Olayiwola, who lauded the promotion of a bill to establish the institute, said the proposed collaboration was for the promotion of job creation in Nigeria, adding that the institute has trained personnel in the banking sector, security agencies, the ministry of justice and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in improving performance of their personnel.