Abuja – The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) on Thursday said it would support Nigerian inventors to actualise their aims of building aircraft and Drone.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, said this when he received Mr Ajiyen Aghogho, the builder of an aeroplane and Mr Ayoola Olaolu, the builder of a Drone at his office in Abuja.
Onu said that the ministry would help the inventors “because our country is a great nation; we have very intelligent people in our country and today, we listened to two Nigerian inventors who worked very hard.
“The ministry will support you and all Nigerians that have good ideas to make sure that such ideas become either a product or a service that will benefit our nation.’’
The minister added that the ministry had a mandate to ensure that the country no longer remained a consumer nation but self-reliant to meet its needs.
According to him, the nation wants to produce enough and export to other countries and create technologies that other countries will like to copy.
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He assured the inventors that the ministry would provide funding for the first national miniature air show festival in December in order for them to showcase their products.
He explained that the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), the Projects Development Institute (PRODA) and the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) would work with the two inventors to accelerate the projects and to patent their intellectual properties.
Earlier, Ajiyen had told the minister that he started work on the construction of the aeroplane since 1992 and that the prototype could not fly until recent efforts from 1999 which made it to fly high.
He said that “around 1992, I made a product which could not fly, but from 1999, I improved on the prototype to a sophisticated master piece.
“One of the major supports I need now is finance to advance the project.’’
According to him, the plane can be used for recreational activities for now and can fly within the radius of five to six kilometers and can go up as high as altitude of about 3000 to 4000 feet.
In his speech, Olaolu said that his ability to invent a surveillance Drone was to assist Nigeria in the area of technological solution, pointing out that technology was the backbone of any country.
“We don’t have to wait for the white men, they can only solve their problems but not ours,’’ he added. (NAN)