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Nigeria: Country Inaugurates International Scientific Committee
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This Day (Lagos)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 25 March 2008
Lagos
Nigeria has inaugurated an International Scientific Committee to fast track the contributions of science to national development.
A statement signed by the Spokesman of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Njoku Onyekachi said that the body inaugurated by the Minister of Education, Dr Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu, would be an advisory body to the Centre.
Aja-Nwachukwu was quoted by the statement, issued yesterday in Abuja, as saying that successive governments were responsible for the brain drain syndrome affecting the country following their failure to invest in science and research.
The minister said that the committee was part of a strategy adopted by the present government to correct the mistakes of the past and position the country to attain the vision 2020.
He noted that intensive investment in science and technology constituted the bedrock for the achievementof the primary objective of NEPAD, and the MDGs."
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The technological innovations brought about by science in the developed countries have dazzled the human imagination," the minister explained."The developing countries,especially Africa have been left behind for too long in the position of bystanders, consumers, and commentators and this has to change," he said.
The minister reiterated that investing in science was vital for developing nations to and that in order to achieve Nigeria's quest for sustainable economic growth and development.It was necessary that the country effectively promote excellence in science and technology."A country that neglects science education for its citizens does so at its own peril"It is in realising this fact that with Nigeria's external debt reduced drastically government has made firm commitment to upgrade the centers of excellence in the country to a world class status as a way of producing highly skilled scientific professionals of the future."We are all witnesses to the brain drain syndrome that has taken away and still continues to take away a significant number of our intellectual capital".
"For instance today many of our children who left the shores of this continent for greener pasture in developed countries are already making waves in their chosen fields"."The reasons for their departurefrom this continent cannot be distanced from the failure of successive governments to invest adequately in academic and research efforts, this is no longer so."Prof. Sam Ale, NMC Directo r General according to the statement said that the committee would assist the country in becoming a worldclass reference point as wellas ensure that science propelled Nigeria towards being among the largest 20 economies by the year 2020.
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