Vision 20/2020: A National Dream Achievable

Vision 20/2020: A National Dream Achievable
What you're about to read is the full text of a recent address by the Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology. I helped to prepare the text and I saw in it, when I carefully read it later, a lot of optimism and positive disposition. I saw a paradigm: THAT NIGERIA WILL BE BIG AGAIN IS NOT THE QUESTION; THE REAL QUESTION IS WHEN AND THROUGH WHOM?
UTILIZING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO DRIVE VISION 2020
INTRODUCTION
I am delighted to give the keynote address at this year’s Diaspora Day on the theme ‘’Nigeria and the Diaspora: Utilizing Science and Technology to Drive Vision 2020” and I consider this occasion an auspicious forum to welcome our fellow compatriots to a New Nigeria. I am proud to say that we have a focused government which is committed to taking the country to an enviable height. I am aware that some of us have been away from the country for quite some time now and may therefore not be conversant with the spirited efforts of President Yar’adua’s administration to reposition Nigeria amidst the comity of nations. While you were away, a lot of developmental events had taken place. No doubt, most of us have been keeping tab on the goings-on in the country either through news reports or via communication with relations. But the fact remains that most of what we know might be half truths and half truths cannot birth a meaningful development; hence, the need for us all to create a forum like this where issues bordering on our collective existence as a nation will be discussed. It is, therefore, a thing of joy that we are all counted worthy to be partakers of this event which started four years ago. I welcome you all warmly to this gathering of egg heads taking place in the heart of the famous Niger Delta.
Let me say here that this annual event must not be seen as a rite, which as a matter of necessity must take place. Rather, we should see it as an opportunity to appraise where we are coming from, where we are and intellectually project into the future. This government is clearly charting the path we should all follow through the development agenda tagged Vision 20/2020, which is specifically designed to leapfrog our country into the rank of the twenty biggest economies in the world by year 2020. But to achieve this, we must all be reminded that developing countries that successfully transited from the backwaters to the industrial delight necessarily attached great importance to Science and Technology. India offers one good reference point here. Years back, India belonged to the club of backward economies. Today, the story has changed. India’s transformation did not happen by accident. Rather, it is the fruit of placing more emphasis on the development of human capital with a strong recourse to Science and Technology. India, we all know, benefited immensely from the IT revolution flagged off in the 90s. Other examples abound. We cannot afford to stagnate while other nations advance. Ladies and gentlemen, we must buy into this vision and our gathering should therefore begin to look critically at how to harness Science and technology to realize the 7-Point Agenda of Mr. President.
S&T AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The manner in which we will proceed in this gathering depends greatly on how we perceive science and technology and its role in national development. Traditionally, science is defined as systematic inquiry into the workings of nature with a view to understanding and directing these for human benefits while technology is simply taken as the application of science. Today, science and technology (S&T) are best perceived as a ‘twin-concept’ – meaning that one cannot exist without the other. It is now impossible to discuss issues about technology without mentioning science, just as it is impossible to pursue science without technology. In fact, science and technology have become so closely related that the one now depends on the other for its development. The concept of S&T today refers to the totality of activities that culminate in the application of original or derived knowledge for human benefits.
S&T combine human knowledge with the ability to produce and use tools and machines in order to solve real life problems. In our case, the immediate problems to solve are those of poverty and unemployment; and in the long term, to position our nation as one of the first 20 economies of the world in the next 12 years. Our challenge, now, is how we can use science and technology to achieve these clear objectives. The import of this challenge comes out more clearly when we remember that the main cause of the competitive gap between us and the so-called developed world is the creation and application of knowledge; and that the rules of competition today is more dependent on national capabilities to exploit resources rather than just gloat over possessing them. This is exemplified in the fact that many of the industrialised countries of the world today are poorly endowed with natural resources and less than friendly weather conditions. Yet, they have attained leadership in the world economy, essentially through the effective application of S&T. Ironically; the least industrialised nations are those with rich resource and favourable climatic endowments.
It is important for us to appreciate the potency of S&T to bring about significant changes in our local, state and national lives. Investments in S&T always pay off, sometimes immediately, but always in the long run. Specifically, countries like the United Kingdom and France benefited immensely from the industrial revolution in the 19th century, and the United States emerged from an agrarian economy into an industrial superpower in the 20th century, through the effective application of S&T. In fact, these countries invested quite heavily in people and factories, and their successes were based on carefully designed plans and strategies. Unfortunately, virtually all the available statistics show that while the rest of the world has advanced technologically, Africa has fallen relatively further behind.
GOVERNMENT, S&T AND VISION 20-2020
Fellow compatriots, as laudable as the country’s vision 20-2020 is, it behooves us all as concerned citizens and key stakeholders that certain areas of our national lives are critical to the realization of our collective aspiration of being among the first 20 economies by the year 2020. Let us, for a moment, reflect by asking ourselves: exactly what does it take to arrive at this destination? where do we stand presently? and how do we proceed from here? The convocation of this forum lends credence to our common realization that science and technology will play a critical role. Notwithstanding, at national level, we need to take definite actions in specific areas if S&T must help us to deliver on our national aspirations. It is known, for instance, that a country’s innovation capacity – that is, the ability to create and/or apply new knowledge to solve practical problems – greatly depends on four indices: the country’s level of technological capability; the formal and informal institutions as well as their supporting systems; physical infrastructure; and an advanced knowledge infrastructure.
Using the above criteria, our dear country currently stands at 71st position out of 75 countries in a recent rigorous assessment by one of our own, Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, who currently heads UN-HABITAT in Nairobi, Kenya. The message is clear: we have a long way to go. Surpassing 70 countries (among whom are South Africa, China, Israel, Malaysia etc) in 12 years is no mean feat. . In terms of GDP per capita, we are ranked 12th among the top-rated potential top 20 economies by 2025, and in terms of GDP growth, we are ranked 8th (Table 1). The need for us to pay attention to the key areas that determine our national capacity for S&T-driven growth, as earlier mentioned, is now urgent.
Table 1: Basic Facts about selected entrants into the top 20 economies by 2025
Population
Literacy
Poverty
GDP
GDP Growth
Teledensity
Power
Generation
Million
(Adult%)
(Level %)
$ per cap
%
%
bnkwh
China
1,330
91
8
5,300
11.4
63
3,260
India
1,150
61
25
2,700
9.2
23
662
Vietnam
86
90
14
2,600
8.5
51
596
Philippines
254
97
30
3,400
7.3
20
542
Egypt
81
71
20
5,500
7.0
36
103
Kenya
38
85
50
1,700
7.0
18
5.5
Pakistan
168
50
24
2,600
6.4
41
90
Nigeria
140
68
70
2,000
6.4
30
23
Ghana
23
58
28
1,400
6.4
24
7
Malaysia
25
89
5
13,300
6.3
95
83
Indonesia
238
90
17
3,700
6.3
33
126
South Africa
44
87
50
9,800
6.1
101
264
Iran
66
77
18
10,600
5.8
54
170
Bangladesh
153
43
45
1,300
5.6
13
21.4
Brazil
191
87
31
9,700
5.4
72
400
Source: Adapted from Maduka (2008)
Nigeria’s economic potential is well recognized. It is the biggest economy in the West African sub-region and has one of the highest GDP figures in the continent (Figure 1). Given the country’s considerable resource endowment and coastal location there is potential for strong growth. And in recent years, Nigeria has been experiencing an unprecedented growth turnaround and conditions seem right for launching onto a path of sustained and rapid growth, justifying its ranking amongst the “Next 11” countries. These are the countries identified by Goldman Sachs to have the potential for attaining global competitiveness based on their economic and demographic settings and the foundation for reforms already laid.
The previous administration had declared the intention to pursue the vision of placing Nigeria among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 and the current administration is committed to the attainment of this vision by setting up high-powered committees in this regard. The first is the NATIONAL COUNCIL ON VISION 2020 (NCV2020). The National Council on Vision 2020 is at the apex, providing leadership and direction to galvanize the whole nation, with the President as the Chairman. Others are the NATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE (NSC), NATIONAL TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP (NTWG) AND THE STAKEHOLDERS DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (SDC). This is in addition to the identification of critical national priority areas referred to as the 7-point Agenda by the Yar’adua administration. These areas cover critical infrastructure, food security, human capital development, wealth creation, national security and intelligence, land tenure changes and the Niger Delta. In making this a reality, science and technology has to play a key role. This has been shown in the economies of the Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs). Recognizing this, the Federal Government recently inaugurated the Science, Technology Fund Committee made up of eminent Nigerians and technocrats. The committee is made of eminent Nigerians and Chaired by Professor Oluwafeyisola Adegoke, a brilliant scientist and Chairman of Governing Board of the Nigerian National Merit Award. The committee is expected to advise government and facilitate the establishment of Science, Technology and Development Fund (STDF) especially the joint management and administration of fund. The fund when established will help translate research results with commercialisable prospects into marketable products. The fund will also be used to give seed capital to young scientists to start new businesses. Together with this, government will, in the immediate, aggressively develop S&T human capital from the bottom up by increasing significantly the S&T content of our school curricula. We will also pay critical attention to the creation of an enabling environment through adequate infrastructural development.
DRIVING THE VISION WITH S&T: ENGAGING THE DIASPORA
Ladies and Gentlemen, look around you and you will see absolutely no area of our national life where S&T does not have a role to play. We at the Federal Ministry have realized, and in the last 3 to 4 years we have committed ourselves deeply to driving our national dreams and aspirations with S&T. Let me mention some key areas in which the Ministry is currently leading action, and where, I believe, our compatriots in the disapora can make significant contributions:
- Nanotechnology: this is geared towards renewable energy production and medical therapy.
- Advanced Manufacturing Technology: geared towards revamping the ailing industrial sector of the economy. You will agree with me that this sector is our sterling hope for achieving the vision.
- Space and ICT: we know that space technology has wide applicability in our economy. For instance, I can tell you about 13 sectors where we can immediately and directly apply space technology. ICT applications are specifically directed towards e-governance, e-commerce and e-administration.
- Biotechnology: developing drugs and useful enzymes from our abundant natural plants. Our successes so far include the famous sickle-cell medications developed, patented and packaged by our agencies
- Atomic Energy: our target is to generate up to 20 000MW of power the year 2017, and we believe it is possible. In fact, right now, our National Atomic Energy Commission is committed to training 2000 young Nigerians and 11 Nigerian universities have been designated as Centres of Excellence in this regard.
- Innovation Studies: we are systematically mapping the innovativeness of our industrial sector with a view to better understanding the problem and designing evidence-based policies.
In all of these areas, the government is making concerted efforts to strengthen the concerned agencies and parastatals. We are also committed to developing the capacity of these institutions to create and absorb new knowledge through R&D. We therefore invite you all to partake in this success-bound journey. You can be directly involved in areas where you have expertise. At the same time, it would be highly beneficial if you get some of your friends and associates out there to help you in building your fatherland. Remember that you have been doing that for them since you sojourned there! Now, every agency and parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology has an active and regularly updated website through which you could get information directly from and to them. That way, much of the bureaucracies that we have always complained about can be skipped. By next year when we shall gather again, we want to be able to list the names of those Nigerians in the diaspora who have done something; and I promise you, nothing that you do will be overlooked, no matter how little. The time to act is now.
THE ROLE OF THE NIGERIAN DIASPORA
In meeting the challenge of improving the Nigerian economy the role of the Nigerian Diaspora cannot be overlooked. Our brothers and sisters, compatriots who have excelled in their various trades and professions overseas, need to partner with us extensively in the areas of human capital formation, infrastructural development and demand-driven research and development (R&D). I am particularly excited that this annual conference offers an opportunity for that to occur. The requirements of our vision are enormous and we could use all the help we can muster, especially from our kindred who live and work abroad. A good place to start is to attract foreign direct investment into the country. I am glad to say that the business environment in our country has indeed improved and it is now easier, more than ever before, to invest in Nigeria. Rather than make and spend all our money abroad, there are opportunities to develop our fatherland through investments. This government is one that is willing to engage willing development partners every step of the way. Therefore, we would enthusiastically embrace profitable public-private partnership initiatives.
The place of human capital cannot be overemphasized in the quest for national development. This is another key area that our compatriots in the Diaspora could be of immense assistance. Creating and/or supporting local manpower development institutions would be greatly beneficial for the common good. One such commendable initiative is the establishment of centres of excellence in ICT training by AfriHub LLC. The contributions of our nationals such as Prof. Wole Soboyejo to the creation and operation of the Mandela Institute for Knowledge Building and The Advancement of Science and Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa by our own is also worthy of mention. Let me state emphatically that there is still room for much more. Endowing scholarships, fellowships, university chairs and foundations are also very useful. Let us join hands to create the critical mass of S&T human resources that our nation needs urgently to develop.
CONCLUSION
At this juncture, let me once again remind us before I leave this podium that we should all join hands together to ease the pains of today while working for the gains of tomorrow. Let us set aside cynicism, and strive for the good society that we know is within of our reach. We should jettison the habit to low expectations of ourselves as well as our leaders. Let us stop justifying every shortcoming with that unacceptable phase, “the Nigerian factor,” as if to be a Nigerian is to settle for less. Let us capture the mood of optimism that defined us at the dawn of independence, that legendary can-do spirit that marked our Nigerianness. Let us join together to build a society worthy of our children. We have the talent. We have the intelligence. We have the ability. But we have to be aware of one fact: It is not what we know that matters but what we do with what we know. Our country needs us all. Together we shall realize the country’s Vision 2020. It requires our commitment and strong conviction. And I believe Science and Technology is a veritable tool to drive it.The Government of President Yar’adua is committed to providing the political will.
Thank you and God bless for your rapt attention.