Federal Government on Friday said it was ready to boost inventions by empowering National Research and Innovation Council (NRIC) with a legal framework.

Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

According to her, NRIC with President Muhammadu Buhari as the Chairman will soon put up an executive bill to the National Assembly that will legalise invention and innovation in the country.

“We need to have legal framework and that is why we need the bill to be passed by NASS as the president has already told me that science and technology will be the backbone of industrial set up in Nigeria.

“Necessity is the mother of invention, it’s an opportunity that we can use to create and change our environment.”

Oyo-Ita said that invention was a unique opportunity for people to discover things that had not been discovered or to add value to things that already had been.

She told NAN that science and technology would be an avenue to help Nigerians that had knowledge to invent, innovate around their circumstances and add value to their lives and the lives of people around them.

“We say we do not wait for things to happen on us, we create the world, we will like to see which invention is key.”

She commended Mr. Saheed Adepoju, Mr. Seyi Oyesola, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, Mr. Ndubuisi Ekekwe, retired Colonel Oviemo Ovadje, Mr. Cyprian Uzoh, Mr. Kunle Olukotun, among other Nigerian inventors for their personal intellectual property as efforts to uplift the nation.

In a separate interview, Prof. Sunday Thomas, Director, Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHESTCO) said increase in number of inventors and inventions in the country would greatly strengthen the worth of Nigeria among other nations.

He told NAN that the nation ought to emulate great nations that had used inventions to advance and promote their countries to the group of developed countries.

He said that the U.S., Germany, and Argentina, among other great nations observed 'Inventors Day' at varying days of the years to honour their noble inventors.

“Inventors Day is not celebrated in all the countries of the world at present, but the countries which do celebrate, observe the occasion at varying days of the year.

“The day is designed to recall and honour great and incomparable men, who by virtue of their intellectual bravado and the courage to challenge limit to give us an easier life.

“The day is also commemorated to instil the spirit of inquiry and the will to question among future generations.”

He said that it was also to encourage the brave men and women to work on the inspiration of their gifted forefathers to make the road ahead brighter and more successful.

“Imagine, where we would be if someone hadn't invented the light-bulb, the camera, or even the computer for that matter.

“It is a special day indeed to thank some greats for their courage to think beyond their times, to give us the lives we lead today.”

According to him, the U.S. has quite logically chosen Thomas Edison's birthday on the 11th of February as the National Inventors Day.

The director stated that Sept. 29, the birthday of Laszlo Biro, the inventor of the ball-point pen was generally celebrated as Inventors Day in Argentina.

“Similarly the German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland have deemed Nov. 19 the birthday of Hedy Lamarr, actress and inventor as its official Inventors Day.” (NAN)

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