Nigeria ranks 106 out of 140 countries on Tech Readiness, says Onu

LAGOS—Minister of Science and Technology,
Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has said that in Global
Competitiveness Report for 2015/2016, Nigeria
recorded a score of 3.0 out of 7 and ranked
106 out of 140 countries on Technological
Readiness and a score of 2.8 out of 7 with a
rank of 117 out of 140 countries on
Innovation.
The minister at a policy dialogue with private
sector organised by the Nigeria Economic
Submit Group, NESG, said: “It is worth pointing
out that 13 of the countries that ranked
among the top 20 in the Global Competitive
Index also ranked among the top 20 in the
rankings of the Technological Readiness and
Innovation Pillars.
They are Switzerland, Singapore, United States
of America, Germany, Netherlands, Japan,
Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway,
Denmark, Belgium and Luxembourg.
“When we look at the MINT countries of
Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey, apart
from the fact that the other three are doing
much better than us in competitiveness, they
rank far above Nigeria in the rankings on
Technological Readiness and Innovation.
“We should aim to be the best for only the
best is good enough for Nigeria. We can no
longer continue to depend on others. The time
has come for us to be self-reliant and also be
competitive enough for others to depend on us
at least in some areas. This will nourish our
national pride.”
“Closing the development gap will depend on
closing the existing STI investment gaps. While
a target of 1% of GDP for Research and
Development, RD, is perceived as high by
many governments, countries with strong and
effective STI systems invest up to 3.5% of
their GDP in RD.
“If countries wish to break the poverty cycle
and achieve Sustainable Development Goals
SDGs, they will have to set up ambitious
national minimum target investment for STI.” source, vanguard