Goddy Egene
The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi has proposed effective deployment of science as a major technological tool to accelerate Nigeria’s economic recovery.
Adeniyi also advocated a stronger relationship between the media, academia and industry in order to stimulate creativity and innovation in the process of wealth creation.
According to him, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc decided to sponsor the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) award for the media as part of the company’s belief that science would always remain the bedrock of industrialisation in any country.
He explained that technological breakthrough would continue to re-shape the world and every country should embrace science to cash up with wind of change.
Speaking at the 2018 award ceremony in Lagos , Adeniyi identified some critical areas of development through science as strategy to move Nigeria along the path of global technological changes.
He said: “If Nigeria intends to compete and succeed in the global market, we must embrace the culture of continuous ideas generation, new product development, process improvement and innovation. As we strive to diversify the economy, I suggest we pay special attention to the following: greater commitment to media-academia-industry collaboration which will stimulate creativity and innovation in our wealth-creation activities, exploiting opportunities that exist to promote interest in the study of agriculture, solid minerals and manufacturing, without reinventing the wheel, but by adapting available technologies to our advantage.”
According to him, industrial dynamism which is the process of creation and growth of new, more efficient industries and re-allocation of resources from old, inefficient industries to new ones with better technology are often considered to be the engine of capitalism and the dynamo in the economy that ensures growth and prosperity.
“ One of the ways Vitafoam keeps abreast of competition is by introducing cutting edge innovative products into the market and paying special attention to research and development. There is cause for concern that the interest in science and science related courses is on the downward trend due to paucity of investment required and skill-sets, inadequate and inefficient infrastructure, bureaucracy and inefficient administration of incentives designed to promote the study of science and dearth of attractive offers that are available in other fields of endeavours.
He said a number of measures can be adopted to ameliorate or outrightly eliminate some of these problems among which are: massive public enlightenment aimed at educating all stakeholders on the benefits of studying science, initiating a linkage with conglomerates’ programme to create opportunities for science students and those offering science related courses among others .
