FG Earns N188.2bn through Technology Transfer Agreements in Four Years

The federal government, through the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), yesterday said the agency saved N188.2 billion between 2011 and 2014, through Technology Transfer Agreements (TTAs) it signed with foreign companies operating in the country.

In a signed statement by the agency which was made available to the media in Abuja, its Director General, Mr. DanAzumi Mohammed, said the N188.2 billion would have gone out of the country as capital flight.

The DG said: “In between these years, 2010/2014, the agency saved Nigeria N188.2 billion that would have gone out of the country as capital flight through its intervention in the registration of technology transfer agreements.

“The office has designed strategic programmes in line with the national socio economic agenda for good governance, security, zero tolerance for corruption, poverty reduction, employment generation and enhanced Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).”

According to him, it has become necessary to review the agency’s activities in line with its mandate, identify the existing gaps and develop clear strategies for its implementation.

This, he asserted would guide the management on how to reposition NOTAP to play a more active role towards revitalising the national economy.

He promised that NOTAP would align its activities with the current administration’s drive to diversify the sources of revenue generation, pointing out that NOTAP’s mandate includes the registration and monitoring of technology transfer agreements coming into the country and promotion of indigenous technologies.

Mohammed said its recently held retreat provided ample opportunities for staff to brainstorm and exchange ideas on the implementation of the programmes of the agency, adding that the retreat was necessary in view of the current economic realities occasioned by the dwindling oil price which has affected the nation’s earnings being the mainstay of the national economy.

The NOTAP boss also urged government to improve the institution’s finances for better mandate performance and assured Nigerians that the agency would continue to monitor technological transfer to the country while ensuring that universities, polytechnics and research establishments develop intellectual property culture.

In his remark, the pioneer Chief Executive of the agency, Mr. James Okono, charged the management to ensure capacity building for staff to equip them towards fulfilling the mandate of the agency.

Okono regretted that Nigeria was the first country to launch satellite in Africa but lamented that the country is still backward in technical advancement, as he tasked the government at the three tiers to tackle the current technological challenges in order to bring out the best in the people.

Also contributing, the immediate past DG of NOTAP and current Secretary to the State Government (SSG) of Adamawa State, Umar Bindir, regretted the absence of Nigerian product in the international market.

He attributed the situation to lack of technical skills and world class research facilities required to translate research products into goods and services that would compete with those of advanced nations of the world.