President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the change of name of the Ministry of Science and Technology to Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who made this known in Abuja, yesterday, said the change of name was to facilitate economic growth and global competitiveness as well as to make Nigeria a nation of innovators.Onu explained that in 2017 the Federal Executive Council, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, approved the National Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmap (NSTIR 2017-2030).

He added that the new development would require the ministry to drive the Innovation Agenda by embarking on a branding campaign, in line with its expected mandate in ensuring productivity and economic growth.Onu stressed that the change would help to meet the need of other sectors of the economy and all stakeholders by supporting the generation and application of knowledge to solve socio-economic challenges.He said”We all know that there has been a missing link with the statutory responsibility of the ministry.only S&T can not move the nation to its desired global competitiveness level.

Hence,ST&I will spark off a demand driven knowledge based economy, characterized by industry and service R&D programmes, projects and activities within STI Ecosystem. “ This change of name will help meet the needs of other sectors of the Nigerian economy and all stakeholders, by supporting the generation and application of knowledge and innovation to solve socio-economic challenges, as well as providing a policy and funding environment that will establish the National System of Innovation (NSI)“Immediately we are able to commercialise Research and Development breakthroughs, the nation’s global competitiveness ranking will improve tremendously with varying degrees of development that are sustainable.

“These include a robust STI ecosystem that will accommodate continuous system improvement, product quality enhancement, and guaranteed standardisation of ‘Made-In-Nigeria’ goods and services.”