Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu on Thursday bagged the novel ‘ASURI Hall of Fame’ award.
This historical event took place during the sensitisation workshop of the staff of the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (FMSTI) on the full implementation of the Presidential Executive Order 05 in Abuja.
Reacting to what the ASURI Hall Of Fame stands for, the National Secretary General of ASURI, Comrade Theophilus Ndubuaku said the Hall Of Fame was established by the Union to keep records and induct people who have made remarkable impact on the activities and struggles of ASURI
In his words, “Different organisations have different ways of keeping records of people who have been instrumental to strengthening their organisations over the years. So ASURI came up with the idea of ASURI Hall of Fame. We have so many who have done a lot of things to ASURI in line with our mandate as a union. So ASURI Hall Of Fame was established by the Union to keep records and induct people who have made remarkable impact on the activities and struggles of ASURI.
Reacting to questions from journalists as to why Dr Ogbonnaya Onu was chosen for the award, the Scribe said: “Our complaints are on issues that have been on ground since independence. But it is just in the past six years that we started seeing government taking notes of our complaints and taking measures to resolve those complaints. One of the examples of what the minister has done is that less than two months after his appointment, the National and Research Innovation Council (NRIC) was inaugurated. That means he had it in mind even before he was appointed. But mind you, this NRIC is the body that suppose to coordinate and fund research. This same NRIC has been on the drawing board since independence. It was initiated in the 60s when the first National Policy on Science and Technology was drawn.
“The driving force for that National Policy is the NRIC. It is a Council that is supposed to be established to drive the National Science and Technology policy. So if this policy was initiated in the 60s and has been reviewed twelve times before Dr Ogbonnaya Onu assumed office, and he got the president to inaugurate that Council in 2016 and immediately after the bill for the establishment of the Council was passed, you will appreciate the work done by the minister, Ndubuaku said.
Earlier in his keynote address at the launch of the Complaint/Appeal Procedure on the Presidential Executive Order No. 5, Onu the essence is to acquire the Technology we don’t have and attain self-sufficiency and remain self-reliant.
According to the minister, Order 5 will do for us what similar policies did for Singapore, Japan, China etc. We will unlock big opportunities using science, technology and Innovation. He said now that Nigerians are tired of importing everything, we should look inwards.
The Minister enunciated that the essence of Executive Order 5, is to ensure that Nigeria acquires technologies that will help in positioning the nation towards self-sufficiency.
He said, “The Executive Order is revolutionary as it is a contribution of the Ministry towards transforming the nation to the level of greatness ordained by God”.
Dr Onu added that the absence of Presidential Executive Order 5, led to the decline of the petroleum refineries as Nigerian engineers were not involved in the construction and repair of the refineries in the first place.
He used the opportunity to appreciate President Buhari for his support and also urged Nigerians to support the full implementation of the Executive Order, for the sustainable growth and development of the country.
On the recently revised STI policy, the Minister said that when fully implemented it will be the key to unlocking great opportunities for the country’s overall socio-economic development.
In her welcome address, the newly appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs Monilola Udoh said that every average Nigerian must be aware of Executive Order 5 in terms of skills and resources.
She further added that relevant MDAs and stakeholders should take the sensitization exercise serious, in order to transfer the knowledge gotten during the course of the workshop.