Ahmadu Bello University Zaria: Innovation - Key to Economic Growth and Development II

Ahmadu Bello University Zaria: Innovation - Key to Economic Growth and Development II

In Nigeria, we have millions of talented youth who hardly understand the power of their natural gifts, thus, unable to develop their talents into meaningful ventures for themselves and the society. To change the trend, our first task is to embark on a strategic initiative that will act as an incubator and preparatory phase for innovation. This needs a collaborative effort between our tertiary institutions, the government and respective local communities. We should have 'Talent Search Teams' nationwide, whose mandate would be to search and identify talented youth from around the country, who would then be trained towards developing their specific talents, and then helped to proceed into the right structured tertiary programs to become effective professionals in their relevant fields. The place for the training can be termed 'Super innovation Incubation Centres" where the youth can go to be inspired, and to be free to imagine and focus their mental energies, uninhibited by the negative influences that may be prevalent in the surrounding society. Such centres should be irresistibly beautiful central hot spot, equipped with internet and digital libraries to provide a constructive avenue where these youths can engage themselves in productive discussions, experiments and studies.

The next is to create a link between industrial innovation and creativity. This is where we have a huge disconnect in Nigeria. On the one hand, we have a crucial need for effective and applicable products and systems, on the other hand we have a huge number of talented youth that can potentially create these solutions for us, but never get the opportunity to do that because our educational system is concentrated on theory. We must reorient and tailor our science and engineering curriculum to focus on training students in concrete practical engineering and product development, to produce world-class professional engineers and developers for manufacturing products in Nigeria.

Another strategic area needing innovation is automotive and transportation policy. Most of the vehicles in Nigeria today will become obsolete very soon. This is because the leading momentum in the global automotive industry is in efficiency, renewable energy, automation and safety. Autonomous vehicles that drive themselves, with just a quick input into the onboard computer, the vehicles would navigate traffic by themselves and take you to your destination safely and timely. Therefore, we need a strategic Automotive Policy that prioritizes and supports the development, production and service of renewable energy, which will power Nigerian vehicles, most specifically, pure electric and hybrid cars, commercial and logistics vehicles. Such vehicles must be designed to meet our culture, climate, terrain and economic structure. The production of the vehicles would best be private sector driven with strong support from the government in the form of tax incentives, funding and patronization of products for usage by its various ministries and agencies. We need automotive Policy to support this idea. The policy must go beyond tail end assembly and component fabrication, we need one that empowers Nigerians to play a major role in the design and development of vehicles meant for our streets, cities and territories. To innovate and develop vehicles that would be at home in extreme conditions and with the ability to make irrelevant the rough nature of the roads and terrain. This will require our universities and polytechnics to work in partnership with government, Nigerian automotive stakeholders and international companies to develop curriculum for the transfer of Automotive Sector Technology and Skills into Nigeria.

The next challenge needing our innovation is our housing system. One of the major problems we face as a nation is that of housing for our ever-growing population. This is evidenced in the overcrowded and unsanitary Northern Inner Cities, the substandard homes in the polluted waters of the Niger Delta and other places such as the Lagos Lagoon. How much creativity and innovation is being supported by academia in our housing system? Imagine new progressive ideas in sustainable and affordable architecture and urban planning implemented across the Lagos lagoon, fueled by innovative architects, civil engineers and stakeholder professionals in our universities and polytechnics. Imagine that creative momentum carried into the Niger Delta Creeks, creating marvelous modern neighborhoods, magically suspended above the water. Students must not just study facts written decades ago, but all tertiary institutions located in an economy such as ours must be platforms to inspire and empower students so they can innovate and develop sound solutions which will enhance the lives of citizens everywhere, including the Creeks, Lagoons and Northern Inner Cities,

Innovation can also be applied to Nomadic cattle ranching, which is a serious challenge to development. For hundreds of years the pastoral Fulani have led a productive life as they grow and provided much of the cattle that have fed into the economy of Nigeria and beyond. Today, however, population explosion and lack of strategic policy have brought migratory challenges and conflicts associated with the nomadic lifestyles. How can our Nigerian innovators leverage advanced technology to address this challenge? We need to leverage GPS technology, satellites and solar powered drones to guide the nomads in strategically locating fertile grazing land without trespassing on any farms or private property. Using technology to make their lifestyle and vocation symbiotic with owners of private land. The solar powered drones would also serve as life fines for the delivery of both human and livestock healthcare. The solar powered drones could also be used to deliver targeted educational classes to the children of these nomads, also to other remotely located communities across the country.

Innovation in prenatal and postnatal health care services is equally important. Many Nigerians have no access to healthcare, especially in times of critical need, as with pregnancies and children. Every pregnant woman, and every child must be given utmost priority no matter who they are or where they live: every Nigerian has a right to effective health care and so it is highly imperative that we innovate transportation solutions that will make it possible to take basic and emergency healthcare services to everyone, everywhere, with all the necessary mobile medical equipment for diagnostics and care. And if needed to transport them back to the clinics and health centres for critical administering. There should be collaboration between young and student doctors, software programmers and electronic engineers in developing rugged, compact and affordable medical devices that would be used to make this health care delivery successful

Innovation in renewable energy is critical to our developmental growth. With the abundance of sunlight, there is no reason why any city and settlement should have interrupted energy supply. We have huge potential in both industrial solar generation and in developing portable solar powered solutions which would empower people everywhere, in schools, at home, on the farm and while on hunting or fishing trips. We must collaborate with global solar technology companies and research institutions for establishment of effective solar research and development projects in strategic locations nationwide. We should set up hubs to design, develop, manufacture and services world class solar energy solutions. Similarly, the millions of tonnes of mismanaged garbage tittering our streets need to be used in waste-to-energy power plants, thus providing another source of renewable energy while cleaning up the environment.

Agriculture is our livewire for rapid developmental growth with potential for industrializing the nation quickly. I propose two solutions to revolutionize the agricultural sector; 

1. Establishment of comprehensive Agricultural Mega-Parks, one in each of the 6 geopolitical zones, made up of farm land and comprehensive municipality where the farmers will live. At each location thousands of youth, individually or in cooperatives would be empowered to farm, either as entrepreneurs or employees. These initiatives would not necessarily be individual large scale commercial farms, but each a centralized farming park with all the necessary infrastructure, machinery, water, seed, financing, housing, technical support and associated services with a settlement, including effective health care. The parks should partner with agricultural research institutions from within the country and overseas. These partners should establish satellite laboratories in the parks. This will enable direct research and subsequent injection of advanced agricultural discoveries and procedures.

2. Research and development into the production of low-cost yet highly effective mechanized compact farming equipment, including autonomous robotic systems to empower farmers across the country in improving agricultural productivity and in reducing the laborious and low productivity manual labour with hoes and other rudimentary tools. These innovative tools would be produced in Nigeria, using as much local content as possible.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by saying that the intellectual capacity and vision of individual citizens are technically what define a country, and so we must strategically ensure that the population is empowered to dream big, to imagine boldly and to go for the impossible, only then can we, as a nation, move forward and achieve true success. We must unlock those powerful capabilities within us, and leverage them to innovate and develop applicable new, technologies, products and business models.