Nigeria cannot have real development without sustainable industrial growth and manufacturing capacity, which is the solution to poverty, unemployment and insecurity. No doubt, having an industrial production base and a competitive industrial economy is the only remedy to Nigeria’s current dependence on the importation of goods, technologies and services.
An industrial economy is the predominant use of machines, equipment or technologies in industry and all business concerns, combined with other factors of innovation, production, facilities, supplies, work and knowledge to produce material goods or services intended for the market.
The complex and functional nature of infrastructure and investments in science, technology and innovation systems put in place by a nation to drive its industrial production and manufacturing techniques determines the relative presence or lack of apparent competitiveness in the production of processed and manufactured goods connected between industrial activity and the activity in the primary sector, local or international trade and service activity.
When a nation lacks significantly the above underlying factors for economic efficiency, then its lot is underdevelopment with all the attendant deplorable human social and economic conditions. Countries like Japan and China which initially were not among the nations that experienced the first and second industrial revolutions had rapidly advanced to join the league of industrialised nations of the West because those nations over time deliberately invested in research and development, innovation, science and technology sector. The newcomers to the global industrial arena called Asian Tigers: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and others also uncovered the same secret of huge investments in science and innovation.
Africa’s lack of earlier hard-industrialisation push has led to its apparent downward economic trends. Looking at the continent’s record of human development index, poverty, unemployment, worsening health indications, diseases and low life expectancy have become the lots of most Africans. Science and technology, engineering research and innovation are the essential bedrock for any meaningful industrialisation endeavour to take place. The implication for Nigeria is that if engineering, science, technology and innovation are not given due priority, any success expected to be achieved will be short-lived or unsustainable.
Countries like Japan, the United States, China, Germany, Indonesia others have over time gained reputations as “economic giants” due to the priority which their leaders gave to research and development (earmarking between five and six per cent of their GDP for the development of science, technology and innovation sector). Investment in STI is a core factor of development and therein lies the secret of advanced nations’ leadership, pursuit and commitment.
The founding fathers of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure in 1992 established the agency with the aim of establishing and nurturing an appropriate and dynamic science and engineering infrastructure base for achieving home-initiated and home-sustained industrialisation process through the development of relevant processes to guarantee job creation, economic well-being and progress.
Previous R&D efforts and other activities within NASENI’s mandate areas have translated into various technology interventions, leading to the attainment of capacities and capabilities in local mass production of capital goods, tools and equipment in the critical sectors of the economy like agriculture, power, water resources, automotive industry, ICT, health, aviation, education, transportation, scientific equipment and manufacturing, chemical and other engineering materials. The list is endless. The resources in NASENI, if properly put to use by now, should guarantee Nigeria’s self-reliance and industrial development.
NASENI strategically was established to produce relevant technologies, including setting up industrial plants and stimulating knowledge-based entrepreneurship for the indigenous socio-economic advancement of the country. Its major challenge in the past was the lack of patronage of its products and technologies by local entrepreneurs or businesses.
But with the coming on board of a new chief executive, there has been a dramatic change of focus toward the full commercialisation of NASENI’s resources by making its R&D products, machines and other equipment to boost the economy available in the market or to end users. NASENI today stands as a beacon of indigenous technological advancement, aligning with its core mission of fostering the needed dynamic science and engineering infrastructure for national progress.
According to recent statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s investment in science and technology has led to significant growth in sectors like telecommunications, IT, and e-commerce, contributing around 10-15 per cent to GDP. However, compared to other developed nations whose economic growth is dependent on STI, Nigeria is still lagging. China’s investment in STI contributes between 30 and 40 per cent to its GDP; the United Kingdom’s investment contributes between 20 and 25 per cent; the United States’ investment contributes between 30 and 40 per cent to its GDP while Indonesia’s STI contributes between 10 and 15 per cent.
The lasting solution to our country’s economic dilemma now is for us to turn determinedly toward a continuous investment in science, technology and innovations as we journey toward industrialisation, and regarding this particular endeavour for Nigeria, NASENI is in the driver’s seat.
- Ayeoyenikan writes from the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure
