The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has said that Nigeria saved over N1 trillion in 2017 and 2018 through the adoption of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies that reduced the nation’s importation of raw materials.
The minister also disclosed that the implementation of the policies had helped in creating over 900,000 jobs so far.
Onu who disclosed these figures at the opening ceremony of the Science, Technology and Innovation EXPO 2020 on Monday in Abuja, said the ministry was doing everything reasonable to encourage Nigerian youths to embrace STI options in their career-building initiatives.
He said, “We have started the process of identifying bright young Nigerians at secondary school level in a programme tagged: “774 Young Nigerian Scientists Presidential Award (774 YONSPA)”. It is a grassroots mobilisation programme of young Nigerians in all the 774 local government areas of our country.”
The minister said the ministry was achieving success in the current agenda of diversifying the nation’s economy from its current resource and commodity-based structure to a knowledge and innovation-driven alternative.
On the current COVID-19 pandemic, he urged Nigerians to intensify effort to manufacture locally made goods and patronise made-in-Nigeria products.
