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| Umar Bindir |
The Chief Executive Officer, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Umar B. Bindir, has said that Africa and Nigeria particularly has made some progress technologically in recent years.
Reacting to a recent challenge by retired General Ishola
Williams on the need for “Extra Income Generation Options for Scientists” Dr.
Bindir said that continent-wide and Nigeria precisely “We are making progress.”
On Nobel Prize winners, he said that after careful check,
Africa has them of which Prof. Wole Soyinka is one of them, and there are some
Egyptians too.
Citing instances of technology progress, the NOTAP boss said
that Malawi is now maize sufficient even as Nigeria has created and
commercialised the NICOSAN - a new sickle cell drug developed in
Nigeria aka
Niprisan; whereas South Africa has many technology prowess.
Kenya, he noted, ‘invented’ the phone banking and is
working, just as was seen recently, Uganda has launched a viable
environmentally friendly two-seater vehicle as well as some progress made in
the Gambia under the leadership of Dr. Yahya Jammeh.
He agreed that as a continent, Africa needed to look inwards
and focused as well as collaborate.
“Yes, we need more and we need to look inwards, be more
focused, and synergise. Asia or no Asia, Africa must evolve its own models, and
I think we are making progress,” he declared.
He wondered why some people do claim that India or China
does not have problems?
As said by him, the difference here is that they dwell more
on their successes and made all think that all is Uhuru there, while Africans
instead of looking of success stories and projecting it concentrate their
energies on the negative aspect.
“We always dwell more on the negative, portraying that
nothing is happening,” he lamented, stressing that this is not necessarily
true.
He, therefore, urged Africans and Nigerians to promote
deeper and more intensely their own success story.
Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
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