The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has called on African countries to speed up the culture of innovation and research for the overall and sustainable national development of countries within the continent.

The Director General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim who made this call in Abuja also urged governments at all levels to show commitment to investing in research and innovation.

Dr Ibrahim made this call while flagging off the 2022 Commemoration of African Day for Technology and Intellectual Property Rights (TIPRs) which comes in September annually

Dr Ibrahim also observed that the culture of Intellectual Property Protection within the knowledge institutions was low, hence the need to establish Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) to encourage inventive and innovative activities in the knowledge establishments.

NOTAP boss referred to the commemoration of African Day by the then African leaders and Heads of states in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia as a way to arouse the latent intellectual capabilities of the African youths.

The DG was emphatic that what makes the difference between developed and developing countries was advancement in technology.

He urged all African countries to invest more in research and development to ensure that African nations do not remain consumers of products of technological advancement produced or manufactured by the developed world.

According to him “Developed countries had gone far ahead of African Countries because they had invested much in research and development, and 98% of industries in Nigeria are driven by foreigners and research outcome of their products done outside the shores of Nigeria”

The DG regretted that the secondary and vocational schools that were major partners in commemorating the African day with technology and innovation exhibitions are not part of the event because schools were just resuming after a long break

He said that before the establishment of IPTTOs, researchers in the Universities, polytechnics, and research establishments were not interested in patenting their research and development results rather they publish their inventions for career progression, noting that with IPTTOs in place in the universities, the situation has changed.

The Director of Programmes of Innova8 hub, Dr. Obiajunwa,  acknowledged that Innova8 hub is a privately owned facility and a non-profit innovations-driven organization with the mandate to groom a generation of innovators, inventors, and researchers for national development.

“Innov8 is a focal point for innovation start-up, incubation, technology transfer knowledge, and skill impartation, prototypes development, and fabrication”.

“The organization strategically assists organizations and individuals seeking to transfer their ideas into initiatives, inventions into solutions”,

“Lecturers and researchers, as well as budding entrepreneurs and young Nigerians that have ideas, have been able to gain high fidelity prototypes and minimum viable products in the hub. Obiajuwa said