The federal government has declared its plan to build technology hubs in Nigerian universities across the nation’s six geopolitical zones as a means of promoting science and technology development in the country.
The president, represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the opening ceremony of the technology and innovation expo (EXPO 2018) with the theme, “Fast tracking sustainable development of Nigeria through science and technology”, said technology hubs in universities were important in celebrating the creativity and innovative spirit of many young Nigerians in science and technology.
He said: “It is our intention, as a government, to utilize those initiatives to stimulate global competitiveness of our raw materials and support our ambition for a diversified economy.
“In September 2016, the State House hosted the first Aso Villa Demo Day to showcase the innovation emerging from around the country. Since then, the World Bank has supported a batch of those innovations with about $3 million, the first tranche of which has already been disbursed.
“I’m pleased to note that World Bank is committing an additional $3 million for six technology hubs across Nigeria in our universities.
“In addition, the federal government plans to strengthen the technology and innovation ecosystem by supporting the development of new innovation hubs in partnership with the private sectors, and this is well on course,” he said.
“We have an elaborative team with the Bank of Industry (BoI) with a semi-hub – which is private hub, and all private sector entities to run a presidential technology innovation challenge in all Nigerian universities, public and private, and also some polytechnics in April of this year. Each university winner would be invited to an award event to be hosted by the president.”
From Daily Post
