Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Joseph Albasu Kunini has decried government apathy toward entrepreneurship and technological development, just as he urged engineers, scientists and technologists to proffer solutions to the ugly trend in the country.
Prof. Kunini also wondered why Nigerian governments and authorities have not shown keen interests on patronage and promotion of the various innovation by engineers, scientists and technologists in the country.
In a keynote address as Chairman of the 38th Conference of Technologists in Engineering on Thursday in Jalingo, the state capital, the Speaker lamented that several decades after independence and the establishment of universities of technology to serve as centres of excellence, the country has been lagging behind in the promotion of entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable technological development.
He said: “At independence, Nigeri was confronted with major technological problems, including how to maintain those outmoded infrastructures existing in the country; how Nigerian citizens could acquire the necessary skills to enable them to run the industries when they were established.
“It was, therefore, against this backdrop that both the federal and state governments emphasised the teaching of applied and physical sciences as well as various fields of engineering in many educational establishments.
“In fact, after 1980, several universities of technology were established and each of them was given specific courses to teach in order to avoid duplication as much as possible.
“Unfortunately, after many decades of the noble policy, the various universities of technology, polytechnic, colleges of science and technology, and science secondary schools in the country have remained under-equipped and so they are unable to impart the necessary skills or to serve as centres of excellence.
“Let me, therefore, use this ample opportunity to commend and congratulate the Nigerian Association of Technologists in Engineering (NATE) for organising the conference to address the knotty problems confronting the country’s entrepreneurship and technological development.
“This has become imperative because some Nigerians still believe and behave as if we do not want entrepreneurship and technological development in the country.
“Otherwise how can one explain the situation in which Nigerian engineers, scientists and technologists had invented certain gadgets, equipment or machines very relevant to our local needs and yet no industrialist or government had shown keen interest to have such invention or innovation patented and manufactured in Nigeria”?
The three-day conference organised by NATE with a theme, “The Role of Engineering Personnel in Promoting Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainable Technological Development in Nigeria”, attracted the members from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
