Industry stakeholders have frowned upon the Global Competitiveness Reports for 2015/2016 which show that Nigeria currently ranks 106 out of 140 countries on technological readiness and 117 out of 140 countries on Innovation, saying that Nigeria must start investing in technology.
According to the report, 13 of the countries that ranked among the top 20 in the Global Competitive Index also ranked among the top 20 in the rankings of the Technological Readiness and Innovation Pillars. They are Switzerland, Singapore, United States of America, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
“Unfortunately, in the latest Global Innovation Index which ranks the innovation performance of some countries and economies around the world, based on 82 indicators, Nigeria appeared on that index as a country far away from innovation because Nigeria does not invest in Innovation, ” said Kenneth Omeruo, CEO, Emerging Media.
He said promoting greater entrepreneurship, technology and innovation are the bedrock which every economy is built, stating that innovation for other countries did not come by mere rather driven by massive investments in research and development.
At the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) dialogue, the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu said: “When we look at the MINT countries of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. Apart from the fact that the other three are doing much better than us in competitiveness, they rank far above Nigeria in the rankings on Technological Readiness and Innovation.
He there urged Nigeria to aim to be the best, for only the best is good enough for Nigeria. “We can no longer continue to depend on others. The time has come for us to be self-reliant and also be competitive enough for others to rely on us at least in some areas. It will nourish our national pride.”
According to the Minister, closing the development gap will depend on closing the existing STI investment gaps. While a target of 1% of GDP for Research and Development is perceived as high by many governments, countries with robust and effective STI systems invest up to 3.5% of their GDP in Research and Development, he said.
“If countries wish to break the poverty cycle and achieve Sustainable Development Goals SDGs, they will have to set up ambitious national minimum target investment for STI.”, he added.
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