Nigeria: Knowledge Economy As Bedrock of Growth

The development of any country is dependent on the deployment of scientific discoveries through basic applied research. The application of knowledge economy is hinged at applying intellectual capital for an enhanced system of consumption and production for a given nation. The capacity of nations to develop is commensurate with their capacity to use knowledge economy for industrialisation but also enhance living standards of their citizens.

Arising from the fact that nations are likely to spend whopping sums of money to develop their economies with a view to improving on the living condition of citizens, the level of development as reflected in the states of certain nations reveals the extent these countries have resorted to institutionalising research for development.

It is not enough for citizens of nations to have talents that have remained largely untapped and unorganized. This body of knowledge peculiar to the contextual survival of that country is crucial. The incapacity of a country to harness and systematically organise its talents and harness for national growth remains the bane of undeveloped economies. Countries that are incapable of coordinating scientific discoveries and deployed it for the advancement of their citizens are left to wallow at the bottom of human underdevelopment.

The ability of countries to realise their vocations and broaden their frontiers of development is largely reliant on their willingness and capacity to find the relevant connection in achieving a paradigm shift that embraces science, research and innovation. A review of countries that have deployed research and development expenditure shows a correlation between investment in knowledge and the prevailing level of development.

A glance at some of the developed countries of the world reveals that the world’s richest nations have invested heavily in knowledge, thereby broadening options for development. Studies have shown that countries like the United States of America, China, Japan, Germany, India, South Korea, France, UK, Russia and Brazil, have topped the chart of countries that are known to invest heavily in research and development.

The USA, for instance, spends an annual sum of $474 billion, representing less than three percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on research. China invests $409 (2.1% of GDP) on knowledge; Japan $180 billion (3.58% of GDP); Germany $109 billion (2.869% of GDP), South Korea $10 billion (4.3% of GDP) and Brazil $35.4 billion (1.15% of GDP).But for the present administration led President Muhamamdu Buhari, Nigeria’s funding of research efforts have been dismally poor. The nation is said to use only a paltry 0.20% of national GDP amounting to $300 million on research and innovation. Even a small-city state of Singapore has committed more than $10 billion for research and innovation within the period of 2015-2020.

For Nigeria that has stayed in the backwaters of development for quite a while, the engagement of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to provide answers to the challenges of national development has come a long way, albeit slowly. The major thrust of a policy introduced by former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida that focused on science and technology was first introduced in 1986 to combat Nigeria’s manifold development challenges. President Olusegun Obasanjo would in 2001 provide a strong platform for new impetus to galvanise science and technology for national growth. The Vision 2020 project was aimed at placing Nigeria among the top 20 in the world economy, using science and technology as major planks and promoting national competitiveness through considerable investments in science and technology for wealth creation.

There has been no federal agency in Nigeria that has contributed so much in harping on the relevance of knowledge economy than the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) under the leadership of Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro. More than any past Executive Secretary of the Fund, this consummate scholar and technocrat has taken the agency to a dizzying height of successes and refocused the major objective of the Fund to promoting the relevance of knowledge economy as a signature project that holds the key for national growth. Bogoro’s vision in the deployment of research to develop the country has attracted commendation across political, ethnic and religious divides.

Beyond the field of human capacity development, the Fund has left massive and indelible footprints in the construction of lecture theatres, provision of books and undertaking interventions in various tertiary schools in the country, with the Fund procuring “over 2,080,041 books for use in the libraries, 152,844 E-Resources and 380,778 equipment and furniture distributed across public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. I am pleased to inform you that upon recommendation of the Hon. Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that TETFund completes the National Library which symbolizes institutional repository of knowledge and research globally”, disclosed Bogoro

In view of prevailing challenges facing the country, TETFund under the Bauchi-born scholar has concentrated efforts at ushering “National Research and Development Foundation (R&DF) for Nigeria, in order to make Nigeria’s economy more competitive in all spheres through sustainable funding and management, institutionalization of the Triple Helix Model which will culminate in the alliance of the academic, the private sector and the government for a knowledge-driven economy”.

Providing the basis for reliance on knowledge as a gateway for growth, Prof Bogoro recently declared that education has become the backbone of “most vibrant economies because they have allowed education to dictate the way forward through qualitative research, to make a difference. In Nigeria it cannot be different. In Nigeria for instance, there is no doubt that the South-west zone has a comparative advantage over the other five geo-political zones because of their consistent and massive investment in education, starting from the time of late Obafemi Awolowo, with free education from the foundation upwards”.

To prove that the Fund’s focus on scientific discoveries are yielding fruits, four federal agencies, including the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) and the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, among others, the research is focused on the production of phytomedicine.

Expressing optimism that the institutionalisation of R & D is already transforming perceptions about research in the country, the chief advocate of knowledge economy for Nigeria once said: “I cannot remember to the best of my recollection, at any time in our country, where the issue of institutionalisation of R&D, the triple helix concept, the deepening of research, the emphasis on problem-solving research, rather than status acquiring research, has become the topic in almost every engagement, private and public”.

For a nation still enmeshed in the mud of underdevelopment, the deployment of research for innovations and growth is set to turn around the fortunes of Nigerians into veritable sources of knowledge economy relevant to the development of our country. As the world still grapples with the adverse consequences of COVID-19, there can be no option for the country other than to take advantage of the knowledge economy to turn the winter of our national growth to the summer of development.

What is required to reach the final bus stop is a steady hand to guide through the process. Professor Bogoro has demonstrated the courage and vision to lead Nigeria to the path where Research and Development are the roadmap for national development. He has shown the capacity to carry all relevant stakeholders critical to national development to have an abiding faith in our nation’s capacity to develop with the right approach through adequate funding of research programmes and getting both the federal and private sector to play their roles. The development of any country is dependent on the deployment of scientific discoveries through basic applied research. The application of knowledge economy is hinged at applying intellectual capital for an enhanced system of consumption and production for a given nation. The capacity of nations to develop is commensurate with their capacity to use knowledge economy for industrialisation but also enhance living standards of their citizens.

Arising from the fact that nations are likely to spend whopping sums of money to develop their economies with a view to improving on the living condition of citizens, the level of development as reflected in the states of certain nations reveals the extent these countries have resorted to institutionalising research for development.

It is not enough for citizens of nations to have talents that have remained largely untapped and unorganized. This body of knowledge peculiar to the contextual survival of that country is crucial. The incapacity of a country to harness and systematically organise its talents and harness for national growth remains the bane of undeveloped economies. Countries that are incapable of coordinating scientific discoveries and deployed it for the advancement of their citizens are left to wallow at the bottom of human underdevelopment.

The ability of countries to realise their vocations and broaden their frontiers of development is largely reliant on their willingness and capacity to find the relevant connection in achieving a paradigm shift that embraces science, research and innovation. A review of countries that have deployed research and development expenditure shows a correlation between investment in knowledge and the prevailing level of development.

A glance at some of the developed countries of the world reveals that the world’s richest nations have invested heavily in knowledge, thereby broadening options for development. Studies have shown that countries like the United States of America, China, Japan, Germany, India, South Korea, France, UK, Russia and Brazil, have topped the chart of countries that are known to invest heavily in research and development.

The USA, for instance, spends an annual sum of $474 billion, representing less than three percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on research. China invests $409 (2.1% of GDP) on knowledge; Japan $180 billion (3.58% of GDP); Germany $109 billion (2.869% of GDP), South Korea $10 billion (4.3% of GDP) and Brazil $35.4 billion (1.15% of GDP).But for the present administration led President Muhamamdu Buhari, Nigeria’s funding of research efforts have been dismally poor. The nation is said to use only a paltry 0.20% of national GDP amounting to $300 million on research and innovation. Even a small-city state of Singapore has committed more than $10 billion for research and innovation within the period of 2015-2020.

For Nigeria that has stayed in the backwaters of development for quite a while, the engagement of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to provide answers to the challenges of national development has come a long way, albeit slowly. The major thrust of a policy introduced by former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida that focused on science and technology was first introduced in 1986 to combat Nigeria’s manifold development challenges. President Olusegun Obasanjo would in 2001 provide a strong platform for new impetus to galvanise science and technology for national growth. The Vision 2020 project was aimed at placing Nigeria among the top 20 in the world economy, using science and technology as major planks and promoting national competitiveness through considerable investments in science and technology for wealth creation.

There has been no federal agency in Nigeria that has contributed so much in harping on the relevance of knowledge economy than the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) under the leadership of Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro. More than any past Executive Secretary of the Fund, this consummate scholar and technocrat has taken the agency to a dizzying height of successes and refocused the major objective of the Fund to promoting the relevance of knowledge economy as a signature project that holds the key for national growth. Bogoro’s vision in the deployment of research to develop the country has attracted commendation across political, ethnic and religious divides.

Beyond the field of human capacity development, the Fund has left massive and indelible footprints in the construction of lecture theatres, provision of books and undertaking interventions in various tertiary schools in the country, with the Fund procuring “over 2,080,041 books for use in the libraries, 152,844 E-Resources and 380,778 equipment and furniture distributed across public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. I am pleased to inform you that upon recommendation of the Hon. Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that TETFund completes the National Library which symbolizes institutional repository of knowledge and research globally”, disclosed Bogoro

In view of prevailing challenges facing the country, TETFund under the Bauchi-born scholar has concentrated efforts at ushering “National Research and Development Foundation (R&DF) for Nigeria, in order to make Nigeria’s economy more competitive in all spheres through sustainable funding and management, institutionalization of the Triple Helix Model which will culminate in the alliance of the academic, the private sector and the government for a knowledge-driven economy”.

Providing the basis for reliance on knowledge as a gateway for growth, Prof Bogoro recently declared that education has become the backbone of “most vibrant economies because they have allowed education to dictate the way forward through qualitative research, to make a difference. In Nigeria it cannot be different. In Nigeria for instance, there is no doubt that the South-west zone has a comparative advantage over the other five geo-political zones because of their consistent and massive investment in education, starting from the time of late Obafemi Awolowo, with free education from the foundation upwards”.

To prove that the Fund’s focus on scientific discoveries are yielding fruits, four federal agencies, including the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) and the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, among others, the research is focused on the production of phytomedicine.

Expressing optimism that the institutionalisation of R & D is already transforming perceptions about research in the country, the chief advocate of knowledge economy for Nigeria once said: “I cannot remember to the best of my recollection, at any time in our country, where the issue of institutionalisation of R&D, the triple helix concept, the deepening of research, the emphasis on problem-solving research, rather than status acquiring research, has become the topic in almost every engagement, private and public”.

For a nation still enmeshed in the mud of underdevelopment, the deployment of research for innovations and growth is set to turn around the fortunes of Nigerians into veritable sources of knowledge economy relevant to the development of our country. As the world still grapples with the adverse consequences of COVID-19, there can be no option for the country other than to take advantage of the knowledge economy to turn the winter of our national growth to the summer of development.

What is required to reach the final bus stop is a steady hand to guide through the process. Professor Bogoro has demonstrated the courage and vision to lead Nigeria to the path where Research and Development are the roadmap for national development. He has shown the capacity to carry all relevant stakeholders critical to national development to have an abiding faith in our nation’s capacity to develop with the right approach through adequate funding of research programmes and getting both the federal and private sector to play their roles.

By Leadership.