Despite a burgeoning tech ecosystem with startups that have amassed millions of dollars from investors around the world, Nigeria still failed to make the top three innovative leaders in sub-Saharan African in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019, compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius claimed the top three spots, coming first, second and third, respectively. The most innovative countries were measured by research and development (R&D) and patents.
According to the report, global R&D expenditures have been growing faster than the global economy, more than doubling between 1996 and 2016. In 2017, global government expenditures in R&D (GERD) grew by about 5 percent while business R&D expenditures grew by 6.7 percent, the largest increase since 2011.
“Never in history have so many scientists worldwide laboured at solving the most pressing global scientific challenges,” the authors of the report noted.
Nigeria has arguably the highest number of tech entrepreneurs on the continent. In a March 2018 report, GSMA categorised Lagos as the largest tech hub in Africa by sheer number of startups popping up at different corners of the state. In terms of attracting investment, the country is among the top three. So far in 2019, 11 Nigerian startups have joined a list of 44 firms on the continent that have raised a cumulative $450 million between January and July this year.
Nevertheless, the Nigerian government’s near neglect of research and development has ensured that the chasm between academia and the growing tech industry continues to widen. This largely accounts for the country’s no-show in the global innovative index despite the strong showing of African peers in the report.
According to the report, out of the 18 innovation achievers identified in the GII 2019, six (the most from any one region) are from the sub-Saharan African region. Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi, and Madagascar were singled out for being innovation achievers at least three times in the previous eight years.
R&D in Africa is mainly funded by the public sector, with significant proportions of financing in many countries coming from international funding. Challenges that limit private sector investment include unstable political environments, poor governance and corruption.
Nigeria’s president is on the verge of appointing new ministers to help drive the economy which has been buffeted by falling oil prices largely driven by an unending trade war between China and the United States of America. The Nigerian government is desperate to shore up its dwindling resources and fund its over-bloated 2019 budget by exploiting viable alternative sources.
Digital technology is, therefore, seen as one of the segments that have the potential to rescue the country. The Ministry of Communications Technology and Ministry of Science and Technology have, however, been unfortunate to be saddled with political appointees who have paid more attention to party politics than to the reorganisation of the ministries in line with evolving global realities.
The undermining of these two critical ministries have meant that young Nigerians eager to contribute their talents to research projects have fled the country to places where they are immediately absorbed into well-equipped research labs.
“The GII makes a modest attempt at measuring innovation quality by looking at 1) the quality of local universities (QS university ranking); 2) the internationalisation of patented inventions (patent families 2+ offices); and 3) the quality of scientific publications (citable documents H-index),” the report noted.
As at December 2014, Nigeria’s investment in R&D was at 0.01 percent, according to the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Lagos. Going by antecedents, there is little reason to be optimistic that anything significant has changed in terms of government’s expenditure.
FRANK ELEANYA
