Minister challenges engineers on import substitution
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has
challenged Nigerian engineers to do more by producing most of the items
that are currently being imported into the country to save the naira
from further depreciation.
The Minister made the call on Tuesday, when members of the Nigeria Academy of Engineers paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
‘‘We import virtually everything and we have been doing this over the years because we have not paid sufficient attention to science and technology.
‘‘I’m calling on Nigerians, especially the engineers that we can do better than we are doing now and by doing this , we are putting unnecessary pressures on the currency and that is why the naira is becoming weaker and weaker.
‘‘We want to be in a position to produce the things that we need and this ministry is very committed in doing so because with import substitution, many of the things that we import today we can produce them locally in Nigeria and so we should be able to evolve new technologies because we cannot all the time be importing.’’
Onu, who expressed satisfaction with the enthusiasm of the academy in collaborating with government to diversify the economy through innovative technologies, said, since engineers are the apex of the engineering profession, the ministry would work very hard to support them and also help the administration achieve its major goals of diversifying the economy.
He listed three principal things which he said the present administration is interested in as securing the country, grow the economy and also create jobs and prevent corruption.
According to the Minister, the engineers have a lot to do in this three areas, stating that there is no way they can solve these problems without science and technology and urged the academy to play a more vigorous role in helping the government achieve its objectives.
On solar panels production, the Minister said NASENI is already producing solar panels but noted that the ministry had given them a mandate to now move and produce the cells.
“We want to start producing the cells here in the country because the mission of the ministry is not commercialize these products and by the time that we get it to a certain level where it can be commercialized then the private sector will come in to do that and so NASENI will do more research and developmental work on the solar cells,’’ he said.
While assuring the support of the ministry, he however, urged the academy of engineering to make sure that they improve on engineering services in the country to achieve efficient utilization of the engineering resources in the country.
The Minister made the call on Tuesday, when members of the Nigeria Academy of Engineers paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
‘‘We import virtually everything and we have been doing this over the years because we have not paid sufficient attention to science and technology.
‘‘I’m calling on Nigerians, especially the engineers that we can do better than we are doing now and by doing this , we are putting unnecessary pressures on the currency and that is why the naira is becoming weaker and weaker.
‘‘We want to be in a position to produce the things that we need and this ministry is very committed in doing so because with import substitution, many of the things that we import today we can produce them locally in Nigeria and so we should be able to evolve new technologies because we cannot all the time be importing.’’
Onu, who expressed satisfaction with the enthusiasm of the academy in collaborating with government to diversify the economy through innovative technologies, said, since engineers are the apex of the engineering profession, the ministry would work very hard to support them and also help the administration achieve its major goals of diversifying the economy.
He listed three principal things which he said the present administration is interested in as securing the country, grow the economy and also create jobs and prevent corruption.
According to the Minister, the engineers have a lot to do in this three areas, stating that there is no way they can solve these problems without science and technology and urged the academy to play a more vigorous role in helping the government achieve its objectives.
On solar panels production, the Minister said NASENI is already producing solar panels but noted that the ministry had given them a mandate to now move and produce the cells.
“We want to start producing the cells here in the country because the mission of the ministry is not commercialize these products and by the time that we get it to a certain level where it can be commercialized then the private sector will come in to do that and so NASENI will do more research and developmental work on the solar cells,’’ he said.
While assuring the support of the ministry, he however, urged the academy of engineering to make sure that they improve on engineering services in the country to achieve efficient utilization of the engineering resources in the country.
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