The Vice President of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima, on Thursday has inaugurated the Interministerial Committee on Research and Innovation, charging them to build Nigeria into an innovation-driven, trillion-dollar economy within 10 years.
This was disclosed in a statement by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications(Office of the Vice President) on 17th April, 2025.
Kashim Shettima charged the committee members to ensure food security in Nigeria,energy security to power the economy and break the nation’s dependence on imports.
$1 trillion economy mission
- The committee, according to Shettima, is part of ongoing efforts by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pool intellectual and financial capital to “create the cockpit from which Nigeria’s innovation economy will be piloted.”
- Speaking on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, VP Shettima stressed that the committee’s mission is to build Nigeria into a trillion-dollar economy within 10 years.
“We are here to breathe life not into this Committee, but into a bold mission: to build Nigeria into an innovation-driven, trillion-dollar economy within a decade. The future we desire is not something we inherit. It is something we build,” he stated.
- The Vice President observed that innovation is the currency of every civilisation.
“None of this is possible without research—the mother of all the inventions that have guided humanity through the waves of the Industrial Revolutions. This gathering, therefore, is a declaration of our collective resolve to till the soil, explore the seas, and scout the space of knowledge to understand the consequences of our choices. I am truly inspired by the promise of what we are setting out to achieve here,” he stated.
The VP outlined the committee’s terms of reference, which include coordinating action in five strategic sectors with the power to transform society.
Other terms of reference includes “Agriculture and Climate Resilience, where research innovation must feed our people and protect our planet; Manufacturing Excellence, where we break our dependency on imports and build proudly Nigerian supply chains; Healthcare Innovation, where we shift from importing medicines to exporting medical breakthroughs; Natural Resource Optimisation, where we stop selling raw materials and start exporting ingenuity; and Energy Security, where we power our economy and secure our future.”
- The Vice President urged the committee to reduce Nigeria’s food import bill by 50 per cent through innovation.
“What will it take to reduce our food import bill by 50%? How do we triple local pharmaceutical production? Let us align policy, research, and investment to answer these questions and achieve measurable, meaningful outcomes,” he added.
More insights
Earlier, the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Mr Uche Nnaji, commended the leadership provided by the Vice President and the commitment of the relevant ministries, departments and agencies.
- The minister assured that the inter-ministerial committee would help the country save scarce resources and move faster in the right direction, by harmonising efforts, human and material resources for the purpose of enhancing research and innovation across critical sectors of the economy.
“The keyword here is collaboration. We have been spending a lot of money on our various ministries, duplicating our functions,” the Minister stated.
The minister assured that the committee will do its part to save a lot of money for the government and reduce duplication.
