THE Federal Government has presented
cheques worth N24 million to 16 beneficiaries
of the 2013 Presidential Standing Committee
on Inventions and Innovations, PSCII grant.
The cheque presentation to beneficiaries was a
continuation of nine years support by the
Presidential Standing Committee on Invention
and Innovation, PSCII.
Presenting the cheques, the Supervising
Minister of Science and Technology Ministry,
Mrs. Omobola Johnson, while congratulating
the beneficiaries on their achievements,
described innovation as the lifeblood of any
business, any country regardless of social,
demographic or economic standing.
She encouraged them to apply the grant
towards the next step to their ultimate goal,
which is patenting and writing a business plan.
‘‘While the grants that are given to you today
are far cry from what you require to take your
innovation forward to the next stage which is
commercialisation and industrialisation, I want
to encourage you to apply this grant towards
that potentially small but important next step
to this ultimate goal-patenting, writing a
business plan to present to institute that can
make substantial funds available to you, making
an application to one of our many Technology
Incubation Centres in different parts of the
country’s capacity building,’’ she said.
‘‘This is how businesses are created and how
they thrive and grow. From one innovation or
invention, from one bright young mind, a
viable business is born, jobs are created,
people are employed and wealth for nation
and for individuals is created.
‘‘Let me congratulate each and everyone of you
on this achievement. By receiving this grant,
you have in a sense received both an
endorsement and a validation of all your
efforts. We look forward to hearing about your
transition from an innovation to a business.
‘‘For those of you whose innovations and
inventions are still in the preliminary or
middle stage, we urge you to put in additional
effort towards completion in order to provide
opportunities to other Nigerians to
commercialise and reap the desired benefits
from your products,’’ said the minister.
According to her, vigorous efforts are on-
going to improve the Federal Government’s
funding of the PSCII, but added that
collaborations with relevant stakeholders such
as Education Trust Fund, Petroleum
Technology Development Fund, National
Universities Commission, National Board for
Technical Education, Raw Material Research
and Development Council and the National
Planning Commission, are underway to
facilitate the achievement of the ultimate goal
of the PSCII Programme, which is to provide a
solid foundation for a technological break-
through in Nigeria.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Rabi Jimetta,
said right from creation, man has always
searched for better ways of doing things in
order to ease and improve his standard of
living and socio-economic well-being by using
things that are available at his disposal.
According to her, the desire to encourage
Nigerians, particularly those in the informal
sector of the economy that have outstanding
indigenous technologies was based on their
inventions that could impact positively on
Nigerians and the economy.
She listed some of the objectives of the scheme
as encouraging invention and innovation in
technology, to examining research claims and
assessing what could be done to take such
claims to prototype and commercial level and
to suggest how funds could be sourced to
finance the various stages of development
from inception to prototype and
commercialisation.
On his part, Secretary, PSCII and Director of
Technology Acquisition and Assessment, Dr.
Adeyemi Talabi, commended the inventors for
their relentless ingenuity, tenacity and
commitment to industrialising the country
through various researches in science and
technology.
He urged them to take advantage of the
research outcome to advance the country
technologically, through commercialisation
drive, wealth creation and employment
generation.
Speaking on behalf of other beneficiaries, Mr.
Momodu Shaka, who invented an auto fire
extinguisher expressed gratitude to the Federal
Government and promised to use the fund to
translate their inventions into commercial
scale.
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