By Charles Ebi
Federal Government has inaugurated an Interministerial Committee on Research and Innovation to ensure food security in Nigeria, energy security, and curtail the nation’s dependence on import.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the committee at the State House Abuja with a charge to them to work towards cutting down Nigeria’s import bills by 50%.
He said the committee is part of ongoing efforts by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to pool intellectual and financial capital to “create the cockpit from which Nigeria’s innovation economy will be piloted”. Vice-President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the committee.
According to him, the mission is to build Nigeria into a trillion-dollar economy within 10 years.
“We are here to breathe life not into this Committee, but into a bold mission: to build Nigeria into an innovation-driven, trillion-dollar economy within a decade. The future we desire is not something we inherit. It is something we build”, he declared.
On the committee’s terms of reference, VP Shettima said the committee is to coordinate action in five strategic sectors with the power to transform society.
He listed the committee to include “Agriculture and Climate Resilience, where research innovation must feed our people and protect our planet; Manufacturing Excellence, where we break our dependency on imports and build proudly Nigerian supply chains; Healthcare Innovation, where we shift from importing medicines to exporting medical breakthroughs; Natural Resource Optimisation, where we stop selling raw materials and start exporting ingenuity; and Energy Security, where we power our economy and secure our future”.
The Vice-President explained that a major target for setting up the committee is to reduce Nigeria’s food import bill by 50% maintaining that “in each of these areas, we will pursue missions, not just metrics.
“We will not be content with data for dashboards we want deliverables that change lives. What will it take to reduce our food import bill by 50%? How do we triple local pharmaceutical production? Let us align policy, research, and investment to answer these questions and achieve measurable, meaningful outcomes”, he added.
Senator Shettima disclosed that the committee is a prelude to a Presidential Plenary on Innovation approved by President Tinubu, saying the high-level plenary, which will be held annually, will be presided over by the President himself.
“This Committee is only the beginning. His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has approved a Presidential Plenary on Innovation an annual high-level forum that will bring together academia, research institutes, industry, civil society, and the Nigerian people to align our national innovation priorities.
“This Plenary will be addressed by Mr President himself, because innovation is a presidential area of priority. It is central to his vision for a new Nigeria”, the VP explained.
Earlier, the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji, who commended the leadership provided by the Vice-President and the commitment of the relevant ministries, departments and agencies, noted that collaboration was critical in the renewed vigour to prioritise research and innovation.
The Minister said the inter-ministerial committee would help the country save scarce resources and move faster in the right direction, by harmonising efforts, human and material resources for the purpose of enhancing research and innovation across critical sectors of the economy.
“The keyword here is collaboration. We have been spending a lot of money on our various ministries, duplicating our functions. I believe that with this collaboration and this committee here, we will save a lot of money for the government and reduce duplication”, the Minister said.
Also present at the inauguration were the Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari; Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani; Alhaji Balarabe Lawal; Alhaji Idi Mukhtar and representatives of the Ministers of Education, Budget and Economic Planning, and Foreign Affairs, among other members of the committee.
