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Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Obiageli Edith Amadiobi, has said Africa’s quest for technological independence would remain elusive unless countries on the continent deliberately promote innovation, protect intellectual property and domesticate technology.
Amadiobi said the annual commemoration of the African Day for Technology and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) provides an important platform for awakening the creative and inventive potential of African researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs and accelerating the continent’s technological development.
In a statement by NOTAP’s Public Relations Officer, Raymond Ogbu, the DG said the commemoration, observed on September 13 every year, followed a resolution adopted by the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU), Council of Ministers and Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 1999.
She said the initiative was conceived to sensitise African countries to the importance of technology, facilitate its domestication, strengthen intellectual property rights systems and harness the creative abilities of Africans to tackle poverty and drive sustainable development.
Amadiobi said the Federal Government, in recognition of the importance of the initiative, mandated NOTAP to commemorate the Day on its behalf.
“Since receiving this mandate, Nigeria has joined other African nations in celebrating the event through exhibitions of scientific innovations by selected secondary and vocational schools across the Federal Capital Territory, as well as members of the Association of Nigerian Inventors (ANI) and the Association of Researchers and Inventors Network (ARIN).
“This initiative is designed to explore and develop the huge intellectual potential of Nigerian youths, inventors/innovators and to demonstrate the value that Nigeria and other African nations place on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) as a panacea for national development,” she said.
The NOTAP boss said Africa must place science, technology and innovation at the centre of its development agenda, particularly as knowledge increasingly drives economic growth in the 21st century.
“With the increasing importance of knowledge as the main engine of growth in the 21st century, the decision by African leaders to declare a Day for the commemoration of the role of Technology and Intellectual Property in achieving sustainable development on the African continent is a positive stride,” she said.
Amadiobi said the Federal Government, through NOTAP under the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, had demonstrated its commitment to technology acquisition and development as well as the protection of intellectual property belonging to entrepreneurs, researchers and inventors.
According to her, 69 Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) have been established in selected universities, polytechnics and research institutions across the country.
She listed other initiatives as the NOTAP-Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF), NOTAP-Industry Research Laboratory Upgrade (NIRLUP), Technology Story Board (TSB) and Project NOVA, a technology hub initiative designed to develop, scale and outsource the expertise of Nigerian youths across different sectors of the economy.
Amadiobi disclosed that the interactive component of this year’s Africa Day commemoration involving inventors, innovators and researchers would form a key part of the 2026 National Technology and Innovation Summit (NTIS 2.0), scheduled for October 7 and 8 in Ikeja, Lagos.
She expressed optimism that Nigeria could emerge as an industrialised nation if the innovative potential demonstrated by its youths, researchers and inventors was adequately harnessed.
“It is instructive to note that countries that have made a mark in science and technology development started with a single step.
“Against this backdrop, with the quality of the prototypes exhibited by Nigerian youths, inventors, researchers and innovators at previous celebrations, we have every reason to hope that Nigeria will soon join the league of industrialised nations,” she said.
The NOTAP DG, however, called for adequate budgetary provision for the agency and the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology to enable them provide sustained support for researchers and innovators.
“What is required is the sustained support of this event through adequate budgetary allocation to NOTAP and the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, so that researchers and innovators can be encouraged to further develop their inventions,” Amadiobi said.
