A professor of Metallurgical Engineering has urged governments at all levels and other key players in the manufacturing sector to embark on robust investment in processing, smelting and refining industries in order to enhance technological entrepreneurship, manufacturing of spare parts locally and ultimately resuscitate the hitherto moribund automobile industry in Nigeria.
Professor Benjamin Adewuyi stated this while delivering the 94th inaugural lecture of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA.
Adewuyi who spoke on the topic: Metals and Materials: Creating Technological Entrepreneurial Potentials stated that no country can achieve any meaningful greatness without indigenous iron and steel based local capacity building through technological entrepreneurship in the metal sector.
He said for Nigeria to join the league of countries with vibrant manufacturing sector, it should prioritize the iron and steel industry and create incentives that will lead to the development of basic spare parts industries which will make substitutes for imported varieties. This would enhance local technologies and give the needed fillip to the manufacturing sector and aid the resuscitation of the automobile industry.
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Adewuyi, immediate past president of the Nigerian Metallurgical Society, said the ministry of science and technology in conjunction with the ministry of mines and steel development should come up with a strategic plan of technological entrepreneurship through the introduction of Cluster Cottage industries and Technology Parks for the metal and materials sector.
He urged the Federal government to make Technological Entrepreneurship (TE) and innovation a matter of top priority in government planning and budgeting as this will make a significant contribution towards sustaining the economy of the country, strengthening technological development while improving job creation.
The Don said the advantages accruable to Nigeria from the development of technological entrepreneurship in the metal and material sectors are enormous and unquantifiable and include job opportunities, acquisition of technical skills, acceleration of industrial development, exploitation and development of raw materials and local technologies.
Adewuyi said Nigeria is blessed with mineral and natural resources that can be harnessed for both economic and strategic reasons.
He also added that Government should as matter of urgency fund and encourage problem solving research and technology that are adaptable to the local environment thereby providing the opportunities and encouragement for indigenous scientific and technical innovations.
Addressing the academia, Adewuyi said Science and technology must be propelled by research in institutions of higher learning with the ultimate goal of solving local problems of housing, food, transportation, energy, health, portable water, pest control and security.
In the same vein he advocated that technological innovations should be the focus of researchers and that outcome of researches should be for practical applications and commercial purposes by researchers. Adewuyi said to sustain our industries from total collapse, and achieve an equitable society there must be adequate synergy between the academia, the entrepreneurs, all stakeholders and the government.
In his remarks at the well-attended lecture, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Joseph Fuwape who chaired the occasion appreciated Professor Adewuyi dexterity in the delivery of the lecture.
He described Adewuyi as an astute scholar and an administrator per excellence who has worked in various capacities in the university.