By Mark Longyen

Nigeria has called on the West African Network of the National Academies of Sciences (WANNAS) to leverage Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to drive economic growth in the ECOWAS subregion.

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Geoffrey Nnaji, made the call at the opening ceremony of the General Assembly of WANNAS held at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that the developed nations of the world utilised STI to get out of their initial economic woes because it was the most pivotal tool in helping to overcome contemporary global and regional economic challenges.

“This event is very important as the highest echelon of the Science, Technology and Innovation Sector of our economies will deliberate and chart a way forward for a formidable sector that would proffer solutions to our economic challenges.

“The ECOWAS subregion has immense potential waiting to be unlocked, harnessed, and propelled into the forefront of global innovation and technological advancement.

“All through history, whether in ancient or modern times, no nation has ever become truly great without paying sufficient attention to Science and Technology (S&T).’’

The minister said that President Bola Tinubu was desirous to fight hunger and poverty through the utilisation of STI through activities and programs geared towards job creation and wealth generation.

According to him, the STI ministry, through the application of various STI apparatuses, is poised to diversify the Nigerian economy, which is a major priority of the Federal Government.

Nnaji stressed that the solutions to the economic challenges of the subregion was the application of Research and Development (R&D) products, goods and services, which he described as key.

“The interdependence of West African countries innovatively calls for synergy/collaboration in all spheres of development, especially as we metamorphose to the world of sophisticated technological advancement driven by Science, Technology and Innovation.

“It is, therefore, our collective duty as a subegion to switch to STI and maximise the opportunities embedded therein, as this would strengthen our currencies and combat the exchange rate syndrome.

“The strength of every building lies in the foundation and pillars; therefore, it is the duty of the academia to lay for us a good foundation to leverage on; as the National Academies of Sciences is paramount in propagating the campaign of switch to innovation and industrialisation we yearn for,” he said.

The minister, therefore, appealed for synergy and collaboration among ECOWAS member states that would quicken their quest for sustainable economic development through the utilization of the STI sector.

Also speaking, Prof. Fatou Sarr, ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, explained that WANNAS was a group of experts.

Sarr said it was a think-tank that could play a major role in finding solutions to numerous issues confronting the society at national, local, regional and global levels.

“The reason for our gathering today is important for the development of our countries; in fact, the living standards of a nation depend on the abundance of scientific development and technology.

“This lies in the capacity of its actors to find viable solutions to the problems of the society and contribute to the sociology-economic development of our countries,” she said.

Sarr said that ECOWAS looked forward to fruitful discussions and resolutions that would be reached at the event with concrete proposals towards the realization of ECOWAS Vision 2050 with regards to STI.

Mr Peter McGrath, Coordinator of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), while contributing in a goodwill message via zoom from Italy, lauded the establishment of WANNAS by ECOWAS.

“Indeed, IAP commends you on this initiative that we hope will be considered as a model for replication by other regional economic communities.

“And while the establishment of WANNAS is commendable, it should be pointed out that not all ECOWAS member countries have an academy of science.

“Indeed, it has been said that policy-making without science is only guessing;  l am pleased, therefore, that ECOWAS has acknowledged this and established WANNAS.

“It is expected to provide the required advice, based on the best available knowledge and taking into account the nuances specific to the region and help to make ECOWAS a stronger, more effective organisation,” he said.

McGrath proposed that WANNAS and ECOWAS should collaborate with their colleagues in other African countries to assist in the establishment of new academies in those countries where they were lacking.

According to the IAP Coordinator, it will contribute to ECOWAS member countries getting closer to achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals targets.(NAN)

Edited by Chijioke Okoronkwo

By Mark Longyen

Gen. Yakubu Gowon, former Head of State and founding father of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has lauded President Bola Tinubu for uniting the bloc under his leadership.

Gowon made this known at the inauguration of the Academy of International Affairs (AIA), a foreign policy think-tank founded by former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, on Monday in Abuja.

He said the inauguration of AIA with President Tinubu as ECOWAS Chairman, and who recently  achieved a foreign policy milestone by making efforts to forestall its disintegration, was highly commendable.

Gowon said that the event resonated with him, and was reminiscent of when he laid the foundation for the establishment of ECOWAS on May 27, 1975 alongside 14 other West African leaders.

“I must commend President Bola Tinubu for all the foreign policy initiatives he made, which have kept ECOWAS together in the face of recent challenges.

“I implore the President to continue to ensure that Nigeria’s voice remains audible and its influence felt in international relations,” he said. 

The former Head of State, who was the chairman of the occasion, also lauded the President of AIA, Prof Akinyemi for his tireless efforts towards birthing the academy.

“I have closely followed Prof. Akinyemi’s international relations career over the years. His intellectual prowess is unmatched, he is resolute and undaunted in whatever he does,” he said.

Gowon, who also conferred an Honorary Fellow of the academy on Afreximbank President, Prof. Benedict Oramah and other distinguished Fellows, said the event was a recognition of deserved persons.

Speaking, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, commended  Akinyemi for his vision, efforts and dedication towards ensuring that Nigeria’s Foreign Policy was constantly put on the front burner through various intellectual activities.

While appreciating the AIA group, Tuggar said their long-standing cooperation with the ministry was desirable, stressing that the academy had the potential to improve the management of Nigeria’s foreign policy.

“It is even more remarkable that the inspiration and impetus behind the formation of this Academy was entirely the initiative of distinguished foreign service officers who have paid their dues to our country many times over.

“History will record this day as a key bookmark in the place of our elite in keeping the faith that our country can continue to rely on them to place before it their entire assets in patriotism, skills and competences.

“You have vindicated a widely-acknowledged truism that nations which know what was best for them trusted the conduct of their foreign policy only to its best and the brightest,” he said.

According to Tuggar, Nigeria’s core foreign policy thrust is Afro-centric, driven through a three concentric circle application, aimed at achieving economic growth, peace and security within West African and Africa at large.

“I see this event as auspicious and coming at no better time than when President Bola Tinubu’s newly defined foreign policy projection as captured under the 4Ds namely Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora is being anchored.

“The 4Ds doctrine is being deployed to build alliances through diplomatic engagement and partnership with other nations, multilateral institutions and the Diaspora community.

“President Tinubu’s foreign policy outlook heralds a new era of regional stability and collective prosperity for the sub-region and indeed Nigeria. Through these efforts, Nigeria can assume a stronger leadership role in resolving conflicts and driving economic growth across Africa.

“Understanding the interconnectedness of our nation with the African continent, Mr. President emphasizes the significance of engaging with regional organizations, such as the African Union (AU), the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and forging strong partnerships with international allies,” he said.

President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim), Prof. Benedict Oramah, in a keynote speech, said the AIA platform would be a crucible for insightful policy making in Nigeria and, indeed Africa, at large.

Speaking on the subject: “The AfCFTA, Natural Resources and Development Capital Formation in Africa,” Oramah noted that AIA comprised some of the best minds, hence its policy outputs would be priceless.

According to him, any nation desirous of development must assess its endowments of its resources and find that combination of labour and capital that will yield the most optimal economic growth outcome.

Africa, he said, had always been characterised by abundant supply of labour and severe scarcity of capital, hence the marginal cost of labour has been quite low while the marginal cost of capital had historically been prohibitively high.

He said that instead of promoting and implementing policies that considered labour as Africa’s greatest resource, its leaders had  erroneously considered their natural resources as their greatest resources.

“This mis-identification of our resource endowment has several consequences: First, it deprioritised human capital development, which is why we have an army of unemployed and functionally unemployable people.

“Once we accept that labour is our most abundant resource and that capital is the binding constraint to our development, it follows therefore that countries endowed with mineral resources must understand that those resources are a source of capital and that they are therefore useless while under the ground!”

“The goal should be to extract them as quickly as possible through various means including stringent production; obligations on mining concession holders; pledging them for loans; and selling them forward for cash,” he said.

The Afreximbank boss said that African leaders must pay attention to policies that would help convert the continent’s abundant labour supply into capital, adding that their industrial policies must take this into consideration.

Oramah also said that financing was key to supporting intra-African trade especially under AfCTA, adding that Afreximbank pioneered intra-regional trade financing of over 30 billion US dollars in the past 8 years.

“We will not be able, as a continent, to build the reservoir of capital required to fund our development unless we support our multilateral financial institutions.

“It is critical that these institutions have the full weight of AU member states behind them and the appropriate capital to continue serving Africa’s development,” Oramah added(NAN)

Edited by Isaac Aregbesola