Leadership (Abuja)
Bernard Tolani Dada
22 December 2008
Uyo — It has been asserted that the prosperity of Nigeria depends largely on the extent to which the economy is driven by science and technology. This was the view expressed by the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, while declaring open the Akwa Ibom Science and Technology Week, (AKISETCH) in Uyo, where he was represented by his Deputy, Engr. Patrick Ekpotu. According to the governor, "Today, limitations are continuously being overcome and knowledge frontiers steadily extended through scientific research."
As such, he mentioned that in Nigeria, "the vision of a just and egalitarian society, especially given the challenges of an ever- increasing population, among others, would only be actualised when indigenous scientific research and technological innovations were tailored to meet our peculiar needs for sustainable development." To rightly position Akwa Ibom in the drive towards utilising science and technology for future prosperity and for the indigenes to compete favourably in the global market place, Akpabio said his administration deemed it necessary to institute the free and compulsory education to secondary school level. He noted that with the policy, "talents would no longer be lost, scientific minds would be identified early, nurtured and nursed to take their rightful places in the nation's science and technology arena."
Congratulating the young scientists from Methodist Science College, Oron who did Akwa Ibom proud at the National competition on Intellectual Property Capacity, organised by NOTAP in collaboration with Nigeria National Merit Award, the governor said that his government had continued to strengthen and support the Ministry of Science and Technology, to catalyse and co-ordinate research and development activities in the state. He noted that the theme of the week-long event "Promotion of Intellectual Property Rights and Commercialisation of Research and Development Results in Akwa Ibom State," was apt and commended the Federal Government for spear heading the science and technology revolution in the country.
The immediate past minister of science and Technology, Chief (Mrs) Grace Ekpiwhre, who was represented by the Director-General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Engr. O. C. Adiukwu Brown, said the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology had always collaborated with Akwa Ibom in the effort to promote Science and Technology, recalling that the Victor Attah Digital Opportunity Centre, VADOC, was commissioned by a former Minister of Science & Technology, Prof Turner Isoun. He emphasised that the federal government placed high premium on Science and technology, and as such, had put it in the front burner in actualising the Seven Point Agenda of President Musa Yar'Adua. Calling on Akwa Ibom to take advantage of the comprehensive Science Kit being produced in Enugu for the teaching and learning of Science in secondary schools, the Director-General congratulated the State for the development of the Ibom Science Park . The park, he said, has the potential to make the state a notable industrial centre.
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