Abuja — For Nigeria to position itself for the actualization of the goals of Vision 20:2020, it needs to have an important link in the global production chain in technology, innovation, manufacturing and modern economy, the Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI) Limited, Mrs. Evelyn Oputu has said.

The BOI MD made this remark recently while presenting her paper entitled, "Evolving Strategies for Sustainable Financing of Research and Development activities through Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement in a developing country like Nigeria" at the just concluded science and technology summit in Abuja.

According to her, Nigeria should also expand its trade and investment to achieve faster growth, job creation, improve productivity of the work force and poverty reduction.

She said, "In addition, as Nigeria expands its developmental space, five fundamental shifts currently taking place in the economy will accelerate primary products to manufacturing with more elastic demand and firmer prices; oil to non oil exports (processed agric products, solid minerals, crafts and manufactured goods) and import substitution to export oriented industrial base.

She pointed out that innovations that would transform the global economy and the manufacturing sector using more of local Research and Development (R&D) results, should also be given attention.

"All these developmental strategies will shape the future of our industry; improve value addition to industrial goods and services, and the linkages between R&D activities and the private sector. As a nation with huge oil wealth, we need to take advantage of the opportunities that the new decade presents.

"We need to use our oil revenues to support and build modern technologies and innovations. We need to work towards building massive industrial sector to actualize the nation's huge potential. For this to happen, we need to sincerely and genuinely have a strong private-public partnership in the development of the nation's infrastructure, agri-business, agro-industries," she added.

Mrs. Oputu, however, stressed that the objective of the work of R&D activities, is to bring about economic growth and the capacity to diversify domestic production structure through generating new activities, and strengthening economic linkages within the country.