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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has advised the Federal Government to set up a National Science and Innovation Fund, devoting about 20 percent of its oil earnings to driving innovation for the faster tech-enabled growth of Nigeria to power the Nigeria of the future.
“Nigeria needs to set up a National Science and Innovation Fund, devoting about 20 percent of its oil earnings to driving innovation for the faster tech-enabled growth of Nigeria to power the Nigeria of the future.”
The AfDB President has also called on universities in the country to shift away from rote teaching into allowing students to experiment, try things, put ideas to work, and innovate.
Adesina who is running for a second term as president of AfDB said these at the 13th Bowen University Convocation, where he was the guest lecturer.
On why universities should move away from rote teaching, Adesina said: “Universities should shift away from rote teaching into allowing students to experiment, try things, put ideas to work, and innovate.
“To do this, universities need to have structured institutional arrangements for supporting innovations. In the US, universities set up offices for innovation development and commercialisation of innovations developed by universities.
“Developing patents is not enough. Patents must lead to business and that can only happen through supportive environments for them to thrive. Setting up university foundries is a good way to achieving this.
“Take Purdue university; it runs a foundry that supports its students to turn their ideas into businesses.
“Stanford University has programs in entrepreneurship for students, start-up garages where ideas are tested and venture studios that it uses to connect graduate students to a world of ideas, other innovators, a community of entrepreneurs, including its alumni.
“How many students here have taken courses on entrepreneurship? How many even know about venture capital or angel investors?
“By the way, these are not angels in the Bible, just so we are on the same page!”
The AfDB President also advised the students to work towards being employers of labour, warning that unlike their days when one was employed immediately after school, out of the 13 million that enter the job market on the continent annually, only three million get employed.
He said: “The graduate today is graduating into a world of uncertainty. Over 13 million young people enter the job markets each year but only three million get jobs. Africa will have the largest number of youths joining the labour market by 2030 than all the world taken together.”
He also stressed the need for young people to embrace agriculture noting that agribusiness in Africa by 2030 will be worth $1 trillion.
According to Adesina: “One of the young people in Nigeria I am very proud of is Dr. Tope Aroge. I met him when I was Minister of Agriculture and provided him a grant of N5 million. He is a medical doctor, now a farmer. You may say wow! Yes, go ahead.
