President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of 139 persons into 12 agencies under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said the appointments were made to enable them make contributions to the development of the country.
He added that the administration was on the path of repositioning and strengthening the Ministry to emphasize the desired contribution to national development.
Onu spoke in Abuja during the inauguration of the governing boards and councils of agencies and institutes.
He said: “We are now on the path of repositioning and strengthening the Ministry to emphasize our desire to contribute to national development efforts of the administration to lift 100 million people out of poverty within the next decade.
“The Ministry is poised to engage the subnational levels of governance including states and local governments. Our presence at the state level will provide an opportunity to use STI in the supply value-chain in agricultural production, business development of Micro, Small Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) and academia in a constructive strategic framework.
“We shall establish six Technology and Innovation Centers for Global Competitiveness (TICGCOM) in line with presidential executive order 05 and the fundamental principles of the national strategy for competitiveness in raw materials and products development in Nigeria.”
The agencies are the Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA), Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO),
National Center dor Technology Management (NACETEM), Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI),Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomaisis Research (NITR).
Also included are Project Development Institute (PRODA), National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI), National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT), National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT) and Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHESTCO), National Institute of Leather Science and Technology (NILEST).
