Thank goodness for oil glut. We now wake up every day to realise the things we did wrong in the past. One fundamental thing we missed being proper national data acquisition and management. Is it not as the Federal Government wanted to pay N5000 to unemployed youths that we realised we do not have accurate data of the unemployed?
We do not have precise data of our pensioners, nor the public servants for that matter – that is why the “ghost worker” scourge is endemic. And when we have national census, the outcome becomes a subject of political debate. The way it is, one may be tempted to doubt whether our estimated population is anywhere near accurate. We may be a nation of 300 million people, for all the inefficiency we depend on. Births, deaths and immigration are not properly recorded.
Nevertheless, the concern is not the issue of not having accurate data for national development. The disaster is in the fact that it is basically our modus operandi. Things are done by estimates and guess estimates, random sampling and number fixing. And nobody asks questions.
The practice was widespread, because corruption thrives where there is no data. And conversely, lack-of accurate data thrives where there is corruption.
Have you ever wondered why the power utilities (as did NEPA and PHCN) never wanted to give anybody prepaid metres? It is because it is easy to pass off phantom bills if there are no accurate data, which prepaid meter represents. But, I am digressing.
My concern today is TNA, which is Technology Needs Assessment. This, in a layman’s language, simply means collecting accurate data on the technological needs of a country with a view to streamlining and deploying resources to identified sectors in order to achieve strategic technological goals.
I first realised the importance of this process when I attended a UNDP side event at the COP 19. After I saw the discussions on technology transfer and the presentations of select developing nations, I met the United Nations Development Programme coordinator and asked, “What about Nigeria, I didn’t see anything about us in green technology transfer.”
He replied, “Oh yea! You from Nigeria? Well, Nigeria has not done its TNA. You can ask your government about that.”
When I arrived Abuja, I went straight to the Ministry of Science and Technology and asked. I was told that yes, Nigeria had yet to do its technology needs assessment.
It must be noted that the United Nations system established the Technology Executive Committee and the Climate Technology Centre and Network, and put into action the technology transfer framework including work on the TNAs. It is required that developing countries determine their technology priorities for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to Climate Change.
Through the TNA project, there will be a national consensus on climate technologies for low carbon and climate resilient development in priority sectors such as agriculture and energy and an agreement on actions to be implemented to respond to prioritised climate technology needs. Institutional processes, policies and regulations for climate technology deployment will be improved; strong technology programmes and projects will be developed; and more in-depth technology specific actions plans will be mapped.
One of the reasons I found it ridiculous to even comment on Nigeria’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, submitted last year, was that it is only in Nigeria that a nation submits its INDCs without the TNA. Yes, we did it!
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, recently declared to UNIDO that Nigeria would become an industrial hub in 2026; and also told a World Bank delegation last Monday that once Nigeria embraced science, technology and innovation, revamping the economy would be easy for us. He declared that we did not need external help to develop our economy.
He said, “We are not going to rely on any country or international agency to help develop our economy, this is something we as a people must do ourselves. For too long Nigerians have been thinking that other nations and donor agencies will help the country develop its economy, but this has yet to take place. We should rather take it as our responsibility. All the countries that have developed took it as their own responsibility to develop their economies themselves.”
Yes, I agree that we have all it takes to leapfrog to greatness through science and technology and innovation, but the missing link is the TNA, because it is through this project that we shall accurately ascertain the areas of our strength and how to scale up; and also our vulnerable areas, and what are needed to strengthen them and plug the missing gaps.
The TNA is comprehensive, touching every aspect of national development to determine the technological needs in the areas of human resource, machinery, software, procedure, and methodology. Without a TNA, we are like pilots flying blind without navigational support – headed for imminent crash.
And, the TNA will create jobs because when you identify a technological need and the resource to fit in, you then deploy qualified citizens to fill the niche accordingly.
A national technology needs assessment project will explore the barriers and problems faced by innovators that prevent or slow down the progress of innovation. Through a mapping technique the whole system is put in perspective, creating an all-inclusive picture of a system environment into which the new technologies must be developed, deployed and diffused.
From a well-planned interface, different stakeholders exchange information to build a picture of the whole system encompassing the enabling environment for introducing new technologies (legal, institutional, organisation, cultural), the actors involved in the system and their power and connections, as well as the supporting services (e.g., finance, quality control, enforcement, standards, etc.) needed to make the system function.
How does Iran, a major crude oil producer, survive global sanctions? It took scientific innovation to the next level, so it can do without petrodollar. It is a world leader in biotechnology. If the country had folded its hands and counted only on its God-given wealth, like we do, it would have been a sitting duck whenever the West refuses to buy its oil.
The same with China: a country that would have tanked under the weight of its unwieldy population. The country, after experiencing disastrous experiments in rapid industrialisation under the Great Leap Forward, finally embarked on a TNA that eventually dictated how they could become a world giant in innovation. This enabled them look inwards, and utilise their peculiar strength to transform into a world power.
What about Bangladesh, an impoverished nation going green so rapidly that it is today one of the world’s top five green job spinners? I never reckoned with Bangladesh until I met some of its nationals at an international renewable energy trade show. They displayed batteries, solar panels and inverters made in Bangladesh. Unbelievable! They invited us to visit their country to see for ourselves. My friend visited. The day he called me from there, he could not control his excitement.
He was virtually screaming, “Greg, you can’t believe this! These people are far ahead! These people are giants! They are like Germany.”
Well, I did some research and discovered that Bangladesh carried out a TNA that showed them how to become a green giant. The country used to be known for garment making, but they realised what was needed to join a world that is rapidly going green. Today, as a matter of policy, the green technology factories in Bangladesh are required to manufacture top quality products (with long term warranty) for its citizens first, before manufacturing for export.
Interestingly, Bangladesh is also blessed with so much natural gas (its major money spinner), and also coal; but the country obviously realised that the future is green.
PUNCH
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