Samuel Bello, Abuja
The Permanent Secretary of Science and Technology, Bitrus Nabasu, has said UKaid is crucial to the Buhari administration’s determination to lift more than 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years.
This was stated by the Permanent Zecretary when he received a delegation of UKaid and UK Africa science partnership in the Ministry in Abuja on Wednesday.
Nabasu called for strong partnership between the Ministry and UKaid UK Africa to boost knowledge transfer in Science, Technology and Innovation.
He said the President’s determination to lift more than 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years can only be realised through the platform of Science andTechnology, adding that inputs of UK aid in this objective would be crucial to its fulfillment.
He added that the Federal Government had initiated major policies in Science Technology and Innovation (STI) to drive economic diversification, whilst appealing to UKaid to assist in the area of implementation.
“We are not short of capacity, but it is the implementation of such capacity,” he said.
Nabasu said that Nigeria cannot achieve meaningful progress unless the tools of STI are put to good use and commended the UKaid in Africa for using technology to improve the fortunes of the ordinary citizens of Nigeria.
Earlier, the Head of UKaid, UK Africa, West African Team leader Leanne Jones, said the objective of their meeting was to support partner countries like Nigeria to harness Science and Technology to improve economic opportunities.
She emphasised that the UK will deploy technology to addressing poverty reduction, while digital technologies would also be employed to expand broadband and internet options in Nigeria.
Dr Nee-Joo Teu, the Head of the UK Knowledge Transfer Technology, said partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria was essential to build suitable technological models for the country that is friendly to the eco-system and will eventually grow the economy.