The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved a new policy for technology acquisition to allow foreign investment in Science, Technology and Engineering from where local content could be developed.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, announced this at the end of the FEC meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
According to the minister, the council expected that the policy would facilitate technology transfer, more taxes as well as wealth creation for the country and people.
Onu said: “The Federal Executive Council in its deliberations approved a policy that will help us to change the direction that we have been taking as a nation, a direction that will be very useful in helping us to start looking inwards to produce the things that we need as against depending on other outside people to import our requirements.
“Some of the highlights will involve for example where we have bulk purchases of major items that we are bringing into the country that those who normally would have supplied from outside the country will now come to Nigeria to establish their factories to produce in Nigeria.
“By doing so they will offer job opportunities to our people, tax will be paid to government so wealth will be created but most importantly Nigeria will now acquire the necessary technology that will help us to build capacity.”
According to Onu, the aim is that in the next 10 years Nigerian firms shall be in a position to carry out very complex jobs, especially the ones that they do not currently have the expertise to do.
He said the country would for now rely on foreign companies for such jobs but when they arrive they have to work with Nigerian firms who would understudy them from project conception to inauguration.
The minister stated that it was the only way that the country could acquire the necessary technology to build our local capacity hoping that in 20 years Nigerian firms should be competing with the best in the world.
He said FEC has accepted to declare a state of emergency on Science and Technology because the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017 to 2020 recognised the cardinal place of science and technology in driving the recovery and growth plan.
Onu said: “We are not looking for transfer of technology because we know it would not happen; what we are looking for is acquisition of technology and we are interested in building our own capacity.
“We are convinced that we can do this and we believe that with the new policy we will be in a position to acquire technology.”
Onu noted that the country could train professionals using the foreign professionals, adding that the Ministry of Interior would be involved to ensure creation of a new classification in the immigration policy in that regard.
He also said that the ministry of foreign affairs would help the country to improve its free visa status ranking from the present 92 position.
He described the position as very low as it allowed Nigerians to enter only 45 countries on free visa.
He said this was a difficult journey but would take Nigeria to where it should be in the comity of nations.
He noted that with the movement of other nations toward solar and other means of technology outside oil the country should be preparing for a post-crude oil era.
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