NOTAP To Advance African Science And Technology Through Partnerships

INFO TECH
By Bode Adewumi

NOTAP DG, Dr Dan’azumi Ibrahim
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THE Director-General (DG), National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr DanAzumi Ibrahim, said the office was set to advance Science and Technology in Africa through partnerships.

Ibrahim stated this over the weekend in Abuja, while receiving a delegation from the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) and Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), on a working visit.

Ibrahim, who emphasised the need for synergies between African countries for the overall development of the whole African continent, said that no African country can do it alone.

The D-G said: ”You see, the whole world is driven by knowledge, we have capacities in the African continent and African countries seem to have similar problems,

”The developed nations always want to capitalise and squeeze the developing countries for their own developing strategies.

”So, where we have Africans assisting Africans, the cost of development will be less.

”So, relationships between African countries to help one another will be much more enduring than the relationship between the developed and developing nations.”

Ibrahim urged that Africa must embrace the culture of innovation for sustainable economic development, ”because the difference between developed and developing countries is advancement in technology.”

Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Director-General DTCA, Mr Rabiu Dagari, said two top research fellows from AISA were in NOTAP to seek collaboration on continental science, technology and innovation development.

He said the visit held much promise for the rapid development of South Africa, Nigeria and the continent when a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was put in place.

“Advancing STI is an area which is critical for economic liberation, good governance and the much-needed security for the continent,” he said.

The Director of Research AISA, Dr Thokozami Simelone, said the visit was to reinforce the bilateral ties with Nigeria to save Africa from being backwards technological-wise.

He added that with synergised efforts the nations in Africa would move forward and not be left behind.

“Certainly, the continent would be strengthened and there are pillars that are actually contained in the agenda 2063, of which some of them entail the industrialisation of the continent.

“It also entails the feeding of the continent by developing food and increasing the capacity of the continent for developing its own food as well as also making sure that the continent is integrated.

“And the countries that have the capabilities to see these pillars being realised are certainly Nigeria and South Africa,” he said.

The visiting International Research Fellow AISA,  Professor Hilary Inyang, said Africa must have an entity that provides the opportunity to extract the intellect of its people to run processes, and produce goods and services.