Kasim Sumaina in Abuja
President, Africa University of Science and Technology (AUST), Prof. Kingston Nyamapfene has decried government’s poor commitment to the development of science, technology and innovation in Nigeria.
Briefing journalists recently, in Abuja during the 2017 Africa Capacity Building Foundation Report held at the University premises, Nyamapfene said: “African governments like making statements about what they will do to support science, technology and innovations but, simply pay lip service to it. That is one of the negative effects affecting Science, technology and innovation in Africa.”
He said the report recommended noted that for Africa to catch-up with the rest of the world on science technology and innovations, we need to increase its contribution to 3 per cent of the GDP. That’s one area. The other area is to deal with the institutional weakness in Africa.”
“We have many universities, research institutions and so on. But, the type of work they are doing is not necessarily linked to the actual needs on the ground and there is need to link research activities to items that will drive national economies and improve the quality of life and economic transformation of the country”
We believe that the 2017 African Report is really important landmark for the development of science and technology policy in Africa, because of the way in which it was coordinator centrally by a very important agency, the Africa Capacity Building Foundation.
“So, one of the primary partners for funding the activities at AUST and but equally important is the fact that, this event is linked to the presentation to the African Union Council, the report for the whole of Africa which is happening at about this time in Adi’s Ababa. This report is bent on developing institutional capacity. It’s meant to narrate all the critical capacity dimensions that are important to the Continent’s growth and economic transformation at country and continental level.
