ALEXANDER CHIEJINA
The recourse to research and development has continued to decline in the country despite its proven role of scientific research as the fulcrum on which self-reliant national economies rest, writes ALEXANDER CHIEJINA
The point has always been made that for Nigeria to make effective progress as a nation, she needs to tap into the areas of research and development. Interestingly, most of Nigeria’s wealth and power have come from the control of physical assets – land, oil, iron and steel. But in the 21st century, should this continue to happen?
Research and Development has remained the bedrock of any self-reliant national economy. The Agrarian, Industrial and Information and Communication Technology revolutions have all been made possible as a result of progress made in R&D in these three sectors. The main source of value and competitive advantage in the new economy is human and intellectual capital. With a population of about 120 million people, Nigeria, in theory, has the capacity to make a successful transition into a truly knowledge driven economy.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED), Research and Development refers to “creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications”
It is easy to see from the examples of the economies of United States of America and the United Kingdom which are both knowledge driven, the growing importance of research and development. In the area of technology, the progress made in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has made it possible for information to become more easily available globally, especially from the touch of a button. Entirely new products like digital TV, mobile video phones and services like e-commerce have been created and more sophisticated production processes developed.
Furthermore, there has been increased global competition facilitated in part by reduced communication costs, which have opened up markets that never existed. The costs of international transports have fallen while goods and services can be delivered via a telephone line. Of course, the size of the market available to such businesses has correspondingly increased. It also means that products and services become quickly out-of-date which then means that a business needs to innovate more quickly and make more use of its “knowledge” and creativity in order to survive.
Another driver of importance is the increased speed of scientific and technological advancement. An increase in basic scientific research and development (R&D) has led to acceleration in the growth of the stock of scientific and technological knowledge. At the same time, the potential scope and productivity of R&D have increased over time as equipment have improved, and better communication technology has facilitated the widespread diffusion of research findings. The fundamental advances made in the field of genetic engineering and the recent claims of a cure for AIDS and various forms of cancer, cloning, vaccine researches on malaria, amongst others are all products of research.
Hence, these scientific and technological advances that led the US and UK’s remarkable ability to create new industries and jobs, improve the standard of living for people, provide sophisticated technology that ensures their national security can be traced back to the outcomes of basic research.
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In Nigeria, the story of research and development is rather pathetic. Despite the Government pledge to improve research and development, it is still at it lowest ebb when compared to other developed and developing countries of India, Japan.
Immediate Past Minister of Science and Technology Grace Ekpiwhre in one of her ministerial briefing while in office decried the low level of patronage and non-commercialization of Research and Development (R&D). Her words, “Our major challenge is still the low level of patronage of R& D results. Compendium of these commercializable results has been published to acquaint the public of the potentials in the sector. Exhibition has equally been mounted continually to attract investors, yet our industrialists and other users still prefer foreign goods to the detriment of our indigenous products and services.
“The science and technology sector has the answer to our myriads of societal problems and it is my pleasure to invite the private sector to take advantage of the available R&D results and invest in the sector, and until there is private sector commitment in the commercialization of these results, we will remain low in industrial growth”.
The challenges of research and development in Nigeria is multifaceted, says Lanre Ajayi, an IT expert, “from poor public and private sector funding capability for R & D to poor access to knowledge and intellectual property protection, inadequate tools for research and the deteriorating quality of university graduate”.
In the area of market research, Adeola Tejumola, the CEO of RMS, a leading research marketing outfit in Nigeria laments that “market research in itself is not so much an African phenomenon.” He said that those you would find doing market research in recent past are the big multinationals and the multi-nationally inclined companies. “Research is about finding out: It is about deep thoughts hence the dearth of skills and little or no awareness is responsible for it”.
Making a case for more attention to be given to research Christopher Olumuyiwa, Public Relations Officer, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, FIIRO, Oshodi, notes that “Research and Development has always been a tool for development for any nation and Nigeria is not an exception”. On the challenges facing R & D in Nigeria, he pinpointed “inadequate funding from the public and private sectors especially for scientific research, inadequate encouragement given to researchers by stakeholders in the country, violation of intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, royalties) without compensation and the unavailability of infrastructures for research”.
Many analysts have also argued that no nation can make any progress in advancement without being consciously involved in research and development. It is their opinion that that knowledge is not exclusive to those countries of the advanced economies neither is the concept of knowledge driven economy through research. Other emerging markets like South Africa, Japan, South Korea and Singapore have developed their own frameworks for catapulting their countries into a knowledge driven economy. Just like the US and the UK, it is also possible for Nigeria to become a successful knowledge rich economy.
The phenomenal scale of work, commitment and seriousness that is required before the Nigerian economy can lay claim to being knowledge driven is enormous. Many experts believe that it demands a complete change of culture and attitude from both the public and private sectors. It is their opinion that there needs to be a new wave of collaboration among different agencies and different sectors of the economy to make it a reality.
It has also been pointed out that the government needs to put in place a cohesive and coherent long-term strategy to help make the idea a reality. Enuani Lawrence, a Research Chemist with CAP, in Lagos lent his voice to this thinking by saying that “funding of research is not negotiable” since history had shown that various inventions came about as a result of research.
In the promotion of science and technology, it is apparent that the government has demonstrated some willingness especially with the creation of research institutes which currently number over 20. These include Institute for Agricultural Research and Training IAR&T, National Centre for Genetic Research and Biotechnology (NCGRB), Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), National Institute for Medical Research NIMR), National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) and National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA).
President Umaru Yar’adua, at the opening of the 12th General Conference of the Association of African Universities said “African universities could rise up to the challenge by living up to their expectation as centres of excellence in the generation of ideas, research and inventions”. He said such initiatives were expected to service development needs and graduates to meet the challenges of the current reforms and continental development as spelt out in the 7-Point Agenda and the MDGs”.
He further said Nigerian Universities should brace up with the challenges of R & D and see the benefits it has to the economy of the country. Yar’adua said the government was committed to addressing problems of the education sector and higher education in particular, which were facing so many challenges due to inadequate funds. “However, the task of turning around the fortunes of the sector will require renewed commitment to enable us all get there,” he stressed.
From all these it may not be out of place to say that there have been commitments in this direction. What is however lacking is the will power that would bring about the realisation of the desired results.
In the interim, a Nigerian professional plying his trade abroad who pleaded anonymity emphasised the need for Nigeria to position herself for R&D off-shoring, technology transfer and capacity development, adding that the availability of R&D activities can lead to further foreign direct investments, especially in manufacturing.
“Efforts should be made to encourage such highly successful Nigerian owned high-technology companies to transfer their skills back to the country to help the growth and development of the industry.” At present, the biggest Black-owned software company in the UK- Openlink Software – is owned by Nigerian brothers Kingsley and Kevin Idehen. In Scotland Godwin Osigwe and his software company Sigtronics, are also making waves. People like that should be encouraged to deploy their research in their chosen areas to create employment for lots of Nigerians out there who are roaming the streets for job.
