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Ministry Of Science & Tech Plants Tech Incubation Centers Across Nigeria

Published

7 years ago

September 18, 2019

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu says the Tech Incubation Centers his Ministry has established across the country, will help produce the next generation of strong businessmen like Aliko Dangote and others ruling the African business space today.

He explained that this was possible, considering that the centers are capable of supplying the labour for new investments envisaged to come into the country in the nearest future.

Onu, while commissioning the technological Incubation Centre in Lafia, Nasarawa state, said that the newly established Incubation Centers will help start-ups, from Micro levels to small, medium and eventually to large business enterprises, stressing the need for them to leverage on available facilities at the centers.

The Incubation Centre, according to him, is the Ministry’s way of commercializing research findings.” the National Board for Technological Incubation, NBTI, gathers together all research findings from the Ministry and all other relevant institutions, with the sole aim of commercializing them.

“The establishment of the technological incubation Centers, will help attract investors, which in turn will create more jobs and wealth in line with current administration’s vision to lift a Hundred million Nigerians out of poverty by the next decade”.

Also, the Director-General of the National Board for Technological Incubation, Engr. Dr. Mohammed Jibrin described the Technological Incubation Centers as key government intervention program to fight unemployment. He further said the center would be essential in the creation of jobs as investment opportunities will stream into the country to team up with start-up enterprises.

He thanked the state government, for her support in actualizing the speedy completion of the centers, as the state government provided the land, funding, and other key logistics. We are also appealing for additional support from the State Government in the building of an administrative block as well as pick-up Vans and vehicles to aid the daily logistics in the center.”

The Governor of Nassarawa State,. Abdullahi Sule admitted that the Incubation Centers will help in enhancing the socio-economic well-being, self-reliance of the state. He promised that his government will commit to capacity building in the state and to position the youths towards empowerment.

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Alake Inaugurates Nigeria-US Solid Minerals Committee, Dismisses $700bn Claim, Says No Assets Sold

Published

5 days ago

October 28, 2026

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, on Tuesday inaugurated the Nigeria-United States Committee on Strategic Cooperation in the Solid Minerals Sector in Abuja, dismissing reports that Nigeria sold $700 billion worth of solid minerals to the US.

The inauguration followed the strategic cooperation framework established between Nigeria and the United States during the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Head PRESS and Public Relations Department Mrs. Kania Maliki Andeyaba stated that, Alake in the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with the US is a government-to-government platform to facilitate business-to-business engagements between American investors and Nigerian local operators, not a sale of assets.

Harping on the importance of the solid minerals sector to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic diversification agenda, he noted that the administration was committed to reducing dependence on a mono-product economy through the sustainable development of Nigeria’s vast mineral resources.

According to him, the Nigeria–US partnership as a strategic initiative to attract investment, promote technology transfer, strengthen local mineral processing and create employment opportunities.

“There is no sale of any Nigerian asset. There’s nothing exchanging hands,” Alake declared.

“We created a platform to facilitate mingling of US investment ventures with Nigeria’s local operators. It is in the public domain. We signed it in public and published it in four or five national newspapers.”

The Minister said reports claiming the US was coming to take over Nigeria’s minerals and security architecture were untrue at best and products of riotous imagination at worst.

Explaining the policy thrust, Alake said Africa has historically held the short end of the stick in global economic transactions, and Nigeria is determined to change that model.

“We have the resources, the critical elements the world needs to transit to clean energy. So we are creating a new paradigm — you bring your capital, expertise and technology, to match with our natural resources and create a win-win situation . The investor gains, Nigeria gains.’’he said.

Nigeria, he stressed, had operated a mono-cultural economy dependent on oil, while solid minerals were exploited informally — with ores taken “from pit to port” without value addition.

Alake said government has now made local processing mandatory, refusing to grant mineral titles to investors without a clear pathway to processing in Nigeria.

He said the policy led to the springing up of processing factories, including the largest lithium processing plant in West Africa commissioned recently in Nasarawa by the Vice President, and informed the formation of the African Minerals Strategy Group.

Alake noted that investor confidence has returned due to macro-economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu that guarantee security of tenure and repatriation of profits.

He charged the committee to discharge its assignment responsibly, saying its work is strategic to achieving the President’s $1 trillion economy target.

To this end, he told the Committee to ensure effective coordination, identify investment opportunities and translate the framework into measurable outcomes capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive player in the global solid minerals industry.

In his welcome address, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo, said the inauguration translates growing bilateral engagements into a structured framework for practical cooperation and investment mobilization

Economic Officer at the US Embassy, Jonathan Baas, said President Donald Trump has prioritized three areas for US embassies — energy, artificial intelligence/super intelligence, and critical minerals.

Baas said Washington’s direction is to work with partners to secure critical supply chains while ensuring partners capture value.

“We just signed a contract today on looking into building AI data centres in Nigeria at the Nigerian Economic Summit. That’s the direction Washington wants us to go,” he said.

In his vote of thanks, CEO/Managing Director of Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, NSMC said that the committee

is expected to coordinate implementation, facilitate investment and monitor progress towards achieving the objectives of the Nigeria–US cooperation framework.

The inauguration reinforces the Federal Government’s commitment to repositioning the solid minerals sector as a key driver of economic diversification, industrial development and national prosperity under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

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