To place Nigeria's economy on strong path of progress and prosperity, the Federal Government has placed a high demands on academic institutions in the country to come up with quality research and innovation.
The call was made through the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, when the Honourable Minister, Dr.Bosun Tijani, received in audience the Vice Chancellor of Veritas University, Reverend Father, Professor Hyacinth Ichoku with the Management staff for the "Presentation of Africa Innovation Challenge 2023 Award".
The Minister gave the charge in his office in Abuja on the heels of Veritas University excellent performance in winning the 3rd Edition of the annual Africa Telecommunication Union (ATU) Africa Innovation Challenge 2023, with the theme "Innovating for Digital Inclusion: Solutions to Bridge the Digital Divide in Africa".
In a press release issued on Sunday by the Head of Press and Public Relations in the Ministry, Kania Maliki Andeyaba, the Minister said, "You can almost see the direct quality of academic institution to the quality of any nation.
"Every nation relies on research and development to be able to progress".
Dr. Bosun said that no nation in the world can progress without a sound academic or tertiary institution churning out quality and dependable innovations that can add value to its economy.
He said humanity is constantly in search for better ways to do things and improve significantly.
These, he said, can only come through useful research and development from academic institutions who are the sole custodians.
Speaking at the event, the Minister disclosed that it is the responsibility of academic institutions to groom and train learners to become innovators that will innovate technical solutions for the country's future development.
"The way we look at education or curriculum and how we train workforce for the future itself, is fast changing.Not only do we need to raise and groom strong people to be part of the workforce that will lift our nation and help the economy to prosper, we also need to understand that the world demands we have innovators", he stated.
The Minister also further challenged Nigerian universities on training people who are creators and have the capabilities to solve problems and challenges in the society.
He cited the examples of borders being melting, security crisis within or outside of the country that can affect nation e.g, like covid 19 that emanated from China.
The Minister believed that only Innovation can tackle such unprecedented challenges even before they happen.
Not only harping on training people, the Minister believed it is important to have people that can drive the innovation, which will propel economic development.
Noting that the country is endowed with rich resources, the Minister said the government needs people who are builders, innovators, entrepreneurs, that will transform those resources for the greater good of the populace.
Dr. Bosun said that as ministry, "while we encourage the private sector to invest, we need the academic sector to join us on coming with ground breaking research that will ensure that Nigeria is a true leader in the African continent."
The highpoint of the event was the presentation of the sum of $20,000 cash award to Veritas university for winning ATU 2023 Innovation Challenge in Nairobi, Kenya recently.
The minister on behalf of the Federal Government and the Ministry commended Veritas University with a remark that the institution has become a model.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo also felicitated with the VC and the Management for a show of honour and how the institution represented the nation well.
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of Veritas University Reverend Father Professor Hyacinth Ichoku hinted about the challenge of getting industrialists and investors to churn the researches into products for commercialization purposes