The Federal Government has announced arrangements for the transfer of technology from the Czech Republic to Nigeria, through the inauguration of the Implementation Committee on Memorandum of Understanding between the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Technology and Joint Research.
This was disclosed to State House Correspondents in Abuja by Mariam Katagum, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, after the event at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.
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President Muhammadu Buhari was represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, who presided over the inauguration.
The Minister said that the agreement is focused on technology transfer between Nigeria and the Czech Republic, as the latter was one of the countries in Europe with vast amount of technology.
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- “In the yesteryears, we used to send our students to the former Czechoslovakia, as it was called. So, now, this cooperation is between the Nigerian government, represented by National Agency for Engineering and Science Infrastructure (NASENI), and the Czech Government, represented by the Technology Agency of Czech Republic.
- “Looking at agriculture, mining, MSMEs and how we can collaborate to enable us to get some skilled training so that when we have particular tasks that we need certain machinery, we could developed the machinery. We need to transfer this knowledge, and, then NASENI, using its own members of staff and research and development, will be able to adapt these technologies to suit the Nigerian situation.’’
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The Minister said the MoU has an implementation timeline of 2024 and added that young Nigerians in Information and Technology would be the main catchment area of the agreement.
- “So, how do we get these young people to be part of this particular project? That’s why in our discussions, we have to bring in agencies of government, such as the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and Bank of Industry (BOI).
- “We also have to leverage on the organized private sector, because there is a lot to learn from the private sector – a lot of resources there that we can tap.”
What you should know
Nigeria has signed agreements with foreign nations recently, especially in the areas of education and skills transfer.
- Nairametrics reported recently that the Federal Government of Nigeria has opened the portal for the registration of the 2021/2022 Bilateral Educational Agreement (BEA) scholarship for deserving Nigerians. The BEA scholarship is awarded to both undergraduate and postgraduate students and tenable in some selected countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
- Nairametrics also reported last week that the Federal Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which provides a platform for the nations to engage each other legally and commercially.
