N39b Budget For Science, Technology Insignificant

GIVEN the place of Science and Technology in the technological transformation of the country, the paltry allocation of N39 billion to the sector in the 2012 budget has been described as a major barrier to the actualisation of the desired growth.Chairman of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science and Technology, Mr. Abiodun Akinlade, made this observation during the week when the Committee came on a working visit to the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Lagos.Akinlade, while expressing the House's delight on the 10 per cent bread policy, noted that the feat by FIIRO in the presentation of bread with 10 per cent cassava flour inclusion had brought a sense of pride and dignity to Nigerians.However, Akinlade said the new national policy of 10 per cent cassava inclusion in bread making recently announced by President Goodluck Jonathan still requires the legislation of the National Assembly to make it legal and mandatory.He, however, stressed that the National Assembly would, without hesitation, give the policy the required legal backing. He added that the Committee was ready to do all it could in spite of the very tight budgetary disposition of 2012 to ensure that the nation truly made the technological leap it needed.Akinlade, who commended Dr. Gloria Elemo, Director General of FIIRO, on being steadfast in pursuit of the course of making relevant technology applicable to the issues on ground, argued it would boost revenue for cassava farmers and create jobs for the teeming population of unemployed people.The Chairman said, from what has been known of the Institute and its research and development efforts in the area of cassava products, it deserves the necessary credit. He challenged other research institutes in the country to help the nation rise to the challenges the country is facing as continuously done by FIIRO.The lawmaker re-called how passionate President Jonathan was about the possibilities that are open in this direction, adding that he shared the president's position that this feat, if adopted and supported by Nigerians, would impact heavily on the country's food security policy.He gave the assurance that once the policy had received the necessary legal backing and had become law, all organs of government would have no choice than to key into it and consume officially.Elemo traced the research into cassava flour inclusion to even an earlier date than 1982 when former President Shehu Shagari tasted a 10 per cent composite flour bread the institute had baked though the mandate at that time by the Federal Government to use the flour failed.
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