COVID- 19 is wake- up call for Nigeria to innovate, UNESCO says

THE United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) has said that the global COVID- 19 pandemic is a wake- up call for the Nigerian government and other countries to in vest and build robust science, technology and innovation ( STI) ecosystems.

Director, Dakar Regional Office and Officer In Charge, Abuja Regional Office, Dr . Dimitri Sanga, who stated this at the capacity building on STI policy in Abuja, noted that reports ha ve shown that countries that responded to the epidemic, mobilised scientific, social and industrial capabilities of their countr y and international scientific coalition through open access to scientific knowledge and information data sharing and evidence- based policy decision making.

He observed that this interdimensional STI ecosystem is in many developing nations, especially Africa is either weak or inadequate.

Sanga said that for STI to work for sustainable development and address ongoing challenges, appropriate STI policy frameworks need to be developed, adding at UNESCO provides technical advice, methodologies and guidance to governments on the design, monitoring and implementation of STI policies as an integral part of national development of policies and plans.

He noted that the 2030 agenda with its set 17 Sustainable Development Goals ( SGDS), adopted by the international community in 2015, recognized the central role played by STI in fostering sustainable development globally and in the continental level and line with the Agenda 2030, the African Union Agenda 2063 has been developed with a focus on STI to among others, accelerate the socioeconomic transformation of the continent.

Also speaking, Minister of State for Science and Technology, Mohammed Abdullahi, said that the STI sub- sector is a fun catalyst for industrialization, adding that the present administration had resolved to use the STI tool in driving other sectors of the economy.