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<\/a><\/p>\nAkor Sylvester<\/p>\n
30 December 2011<\/p>\n
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Abuja \u2014 MINISTER of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Ewa has said that about 2million jobs will be delivered to Nigerians through the ministry’s Cluster Concept.<\/p>\n
This is aimed at fast-tracking development of rural communities in Nigeria. Ewa who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the 2011 ministerial press briefing said the Ministry has informed the Mr. President on the use of cluster concept in developing our rural communities.<\/p>\n
“The Ministry is to forward a Council Memo to the Federal Executive Council for approval,” he said. “This project will eventually generate at least 2,000,000 jobs in many sectors of the economy, in 2011 and<\/p>\n
2012 using the Ministry’s Incubation Programme, Industrial Cluster Programme, Technology Licensing and Technology Franchising.”<\/p>\n
Beyond this, potential jobs to be created by the concept on incremental basis will net up to 6 million jobs through mainstream industrial activities and 2 million jobs through backward stream made up of primary producers of, and traders in, raw materials, farm gate processors, small scale miners, transporters of raw materials, providers of primary production inputs.<\/p>\n
Also 18 million jobs are expected downstream made up of distributors, retail traders, exporters of finished products, producers of processing equipment\/machines, components and spare parts, maintenance technicians, producers of packaging materials, technical and R&D consultants and business development support services (BDS) providers.<\/p>\n
To achieve this, the ministry will adopt a phased approach. The jobs will be created along commercialization lines. The Ministry will launch deliberate strategy to commercialize all the concluded R&D projects in the Ministry and altogether, over 26 million jobs will be created through these and other R&D projects.<\/p>\n
The Parastatals of the Ministry have more than one hundred R&D results ready for commercialization.<\/p>\n
“Some of the outputs are full results of core research and development, supported by technical information and documents, many others evolved out of reverse engineering and direct domestication<\/p>\n
strategies. Very few are so far patented.”<\/p>\n
The minister therefore called on investors, private sector operators, conglomerates, commercial and financial institutions to take up these novel outputs from the research institutes so that Nigeria can attain the vision 20:2020, MDGs as well as the Transformation Agenda of this<\/p>\n
administration.<\/p>\n
Ewa charged the research institutes to intensify partnerships with the private sector to commercialize their results, products and services. The broad objective is to provide Investors, Financial Institutions as<\/p>\n
well as the Diplomatic Community an opportunity for close dialogue session, provide for the needed partnership in driving the socio-economic development efforts of Nigeria through guided Research<\/p>\n
and Development.<\/p>\n
Already, the Ministry requested the UNDP to provide upstream support in consolidating its Science Technology and Innovation Policy framework. Several consultative meetings and comments from key<\/p>\n
stakeholders driving ST&I policy were held with UNDP. A project document was produced and signed on 16th September, 2011.<\/p>\n
The project, targeted at FMST Agencies, other sectoral Ministries and Agencies, private Sector R&D end users, Industries, Business Associations was viewed as comprehensive and participatory and has an<\/p>\n
estimated budget of Five Hundred and One Thousand, One Hundred and Ninety Three Dollars, Thirteen Cents ($501,193.13) with a planned duration from September 2011 to December 2012.<\/p>\n
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