ENGINEERING INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESEARCH AND

DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Professor O.O. Adewoye

Director General/Chief Executive
National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure
(NASENI)
Idu Industrial Area
PMB 391 Garki, Abuja.
e-mail: oadewoye@yahoo.co.uk
oadewoye@naseni.org

An invited paper
for Presentation to the
Participants of National Defence College Course 16
National Defence College
Abuja

19th November, 2007.

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 CONTENTS
1.0. Introduction . . . . . . . . 4
2.0 Infrastructure: What is it? . . . . . . 5
3.0 Current State of Nigeria’s Infrastructure . . . . 7
3.1 Power . . . . . . . . 8
3.2 Petroleum . . . . . . . . 9
3.3 Transportation Infrastructure . . . . . 9
3.4 Water . . . . . . . . 12
3.5 Agriculture . . . . . . . . 13
3.6 Telecommunication . . . . . . 14
4.0 Engineering Infrastructure . . . . . . 16
5.0 Development Of Engineering Infrastructure in
Nigeria: NASENI Model . . . . . . 17
6.0 Engineering Infrastructure For National
Development – Problems and Opportunities . . . 21
6.1 Reverse Engineering Programme . . . . 23
6.2 Industrial Cluster Programme . . . . . 23
6.3 Technology Incubation Centres/ Science Parks . . 24
6.4 Satellite Industries Programme . . . . . 24
6.5 Promotion of Local Content in Industrial Machinery . 25
6.6 Investment in Emerging Technology Development . 25
6.7 Development Programme for SMEs . . . . 26
6.8 Proactive Advisory Role Engineering
Infrastructural Development . . . . . 26
6.9 Upgrading of “Mechanic Villages” . . . . 26
6.10 Productive Use of Patents . . . . . 27
7.0 NASENI Programmes in Emerging Technologies . . . 27
7.1 Advanced Manufacturing Technology . . . 27
7.2 Other Areas of Technological Development . . 36

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 7.2.1 Solar Cell Production . . . . . 36
7.2.2 Solar Lighting . . . . . . 37
7.2.3 Establishment of Mini-Foundry
in Tertiary Institutions . . . . . 37
7.3.4 Science Kits . . . . . . 37
7.3.5 Human Capacity Development in
Engineering Design and Development . . 38
8.0 Problems and Constraints of R&D in Nigeria
with Special Reference to the Military . . . . 39
9.0 Nigerian National Policy on Research
and Development and Innovation . . . . . 43
9.1 Funding of Research and Development
(R & D) in Nigeria . . . . . . 48
10.0 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . 51
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . 51
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . 52
APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . 54

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1.0. INTRODUCTION

It is generally accepted that technology with adequate Infrastructure is an

indispensable instrument for the industrialization of a nation.
INFRASTRUCTURE generally refers to the manpower, physical structures and
installations which a country establishes for the purpose of facilitating its
agricultural, industrial and commercial production, rendering social service,
maintaining the security of the community etc, such as transportation
infrastructure, communication facilities, utilities supply, education and health-
care facilities, fire-fighting systems, systems for the maintenance of law and
order etc. To achieve enhanced growth as well as stability of our national
economy and the energy sector, infrastructure should be endogenously
developed. This will lead to long term sustainability of industrialization.
Countries which now dominate the world economically and technologically are
those with highly developed science and engineering infrastructural capabilities.
The so called third world countries such as India, China, South Korea,
Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. which have now successfully industrialized and
attained self-sufficiency in commodity production and in food supply are those
that pragmatically pursued the policy on engineering infrastructural
development over the years with well-planned and well-financed programs and
with political-will. It is right to say that any country with immense human and
natural resources but no infrastructural capability and capacity to develop and
harness those resources would ever remain poor. Whereas, a country with little
natural resources but with sound infrastructural capability and capacity can
develop a thriving, self-reliant and affluent national economy. Indeed these
resources are nothing if value is not added to them. The value added to the
resources endowed to nations by God is the difference between the developed
and underdeveloped nations of the world. Most underdeveloped economies have

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natural resources but they are not able to develop the technologies required to
add value to these; thus they remain in a vicious circle of poverty.

Development of the engineering infrastructural base for the nation for the
provision of services and goods is the mandate of the National Agency for
Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). The primary target is to
empower small and medium scale industries, through impartation of
technologies, engineering principles and practices for the production of
equipment that will meet international standards as well as flourish local capital
goods industry.

2.0 INFRASTRUCTURE: WHAT IS IT?

For a nation to develop, it must have the necessary infrastructure on ground.

The word “infrastructure” connotes different meaning to different people.
Infrastructure, most generally, is the set of interconnected structural elements
that provide the framework for supporting the entire structure. It usually applies
only to structures that are artificial. The term is used differently in a variety of
fields; perhaps the single most well-known usage is in economics, where it
refers to physical infrastructure such as buildings and roads.

The term is often used very abstractly. For instance, software engineering tools
are sometimes described as part of the infrastructure of a development shop, and
the term infrastructural capital in economics may be overly broad, as it includes
a range from clothing to a continent-spanning canal system. This term can
overlap with the notion of internal improvements and public works.

The term is used most often in an urban planning context to denote the facilities
that support specific land uses and built environment. Typically, infrastructure

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in the urban context denotes two general groups of support systems:
transportation modalities (roads, rail, etc.) and utilities. These typically compose
both public and private systems, and some ambiguously held in common.

Infrastructure may also refer to necessary municipal or public services, whether

provided by the government or by private companies. If provided by nature, e.g.
the flow of a river, they are called nature's services and are defined (at least in
economics) as the product of natural capital. This may be augmented or directed
by infrastructural capital, e.g. a dam or canal or irrigation ditch. In general what
is called infrastructure tends to be much embedded in the natural landscape and
cannot be moved from place to place. Even municipal services rely necessarily
on fixed locations, e.g. fire stations in central positions in a city, radio towers on
tall buildings, etc.

Infrastructure (in the civic sense) includes: Transport (Roads, Highways,

Railroads, Public transport, Airports, Ship transport such as ferry and barge,
Bike paths, Sidewalks, Greenways); Public utilities (Electricity, Natural gas,
Coal delivery, Water supply, Sewers, Telephone service, Radio and television
broadcasts); Public services (Fire service or fire department, Flood protection,
Police protection, Waste management); National Services (Defense, Monetary
systems or currency, including the minting of coins, and printing and backing of
banknotes, Postal system, Frequency allocation, i.e., electromagnetic spectrum
management for broadcasts (terrestrial and satellite))

"Soft Infrastructure" is a term that denotes institutions that maintain the health
and cultural standards of the population. Principally, this refers to Public
education, Public health systems including public hospitals, Public libraries,
Social welfare. [1]

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However, when we talk of engineering infrastructure, the development of
which is the mandate of our Agency, we are talking about infrastructure to fast-
track home-initiated and home-grown industrialization, achievable through local
machine designs and machine building capabilities, resulting in general
provision of such capital goods and equipment which encourage the
proliferation of viable small and medium enterprises. When the economics talk
about building of roads, development of utilities, provision of water systems,
and other physical infrastructure, the bottom line is the development of the basic
infrastructure to make all of that possible. The provision of such basic
infrastructure is a measure of the economic and manufacturing growth of a
nation. For example, every industry is composed of unit operations. Each unit
operation has an equipment that is designed and produced to carry out a
particular function. It is all these functions put together that result in the
manufacture of the particular product.

Government must therefore provide the enabling infrastructure to support

Science and Technology sector which is aimed at manufacturing; and in
Research and Development, Science and Technology funding by Government is
a necessary and obligatory expenditure in any society desirous of rapid
economic growth.

3.0 CURRENT STATE OF NIGERIA’S INFRASTRUCTURE

In discussing the current state of the Nigeria’s Infrastructure, we should give

credit to the last and present administrations. Much is being done but because of
the decay over the years, the efforts are still a far cry from where we are
supposed to be. Let me just take a look at the history of some sector of our
economy in an attempt to discuss the current state of our infrastructure.

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3.1 Power
The first generation plant was established in 1898 at Lagos to serve the colonial
masters. This was followed with several isolated power stations at various
towns in the federation tied to their loads. The creation of Electricity
Corporation of Nigeria, ECN, in 1950 brought about strategic programmes at
establishing a power industry which is sound, operational, reliable and flexible
to manage. The Niger Dams Authority (NDA) was established in 1962 and by
1968 the government built and commissioned the Kanji Hydro Station. The
ECN built more generating stations (Thermal and Hydro) and transmission lines
to link the generating stations in a grid system and towns/cities. In 1973 ECN
and NDA were merged to form the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).
And up till now they are still responsible for the generation and distribution of
electricity. [2]

Before the reform of the Nigeria Electricity sector, there were eight power
stations including the moribund Afam Power Stations in Nigeria with an
installed capacity of 5,920MW. With an available capacity of less than
3000MW and the demand for power of 9700MW means that most Nigerians
will continue to go on without electricity.

The reform in the electricity sector has opened up the sector and this has
encouraged the participation of the private sector in the generation and
distribution of power. The independent power producers are now building
power stations; some have been commissioned while others are in various
stages of completion. The government however did not leave everything in the
hands of the private investors as it has embarked on building of power stations
which on completion will boost the power available for distribution. It is
unfortunate that all the billions of Naira that have been sunk in NEPA have not

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been able to guarantee Nigerians regular supply of power. Part of the problems
can be traced to lack of basic infrastructure and maintenance culture.

3.2 Petroleum
A lot of Nigerians and factories have settled for generator as the alternative
means of generating power. Adding their demand for petroleum products and
that of the large number of automobiles in the country, the quest for refined
petroleum products is on the increase. However, Nigeria, the sixth largest oil
producer in the world has only four refineries. These refineries are either not
producing at all or are producing far below their installed capacity. The direct
result of this sorry state of the petroleum downstream sub-sector is the
continuous importation of refined petroleum products.

Nigeria is in this pathetic power/energy condition today due to the neglect of the
sector by past administrations. However, the present and immediate past
governments have started the reform of the downstream sector; allowing the
participation of the private sector in the downstream subsector of the economy.
The administration has recognized that per capita energy consumption is an
index of the living standard of the people of Nigeria.

3.3 Transportation Infrastructure

Transportation is a very vital infrastructure needed for the growth of the
economy. The ease with which people and raw materials move from one part of
a country to the other speaks volume about the economy of that country. Even
though there are different types of transportation like transportation by rail,
transportation by water, transportation by air and pipeline transportation, much
emphasis is on transportation by road. Just like other infrastructures that depend
heavily on proper government planning and the state of technology, the state of
transportation infrastructure in the country has been in a state of neglect and this

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has impacted negatively on the state of development of the economy. Some of
these types of transportation and their states in the country are shown below.

Land Transportation
Land transportation consists of roads, vehicles and motor parks among others.
Of all these constituent components, the most important is the road. This is
because road transport consists of about 95% of all surface transport in Nigeria
today with total national assets (200,000km of federal, states and local
government roads) of over three trillion naira. Despite these huge assets, the
annual budget allocation for maintenance and the importance of the roads to the
land transport, only less than 27% of the road network in Nigeria is in good
condition [3]. The state of the roads in Nigeria is bad and is becoming
embarrassing to all stakeholders. This challenged the Nigerian Society of
Engineers (NSE) and the Federal Ministry of Works to organize a workshop on
“Making Nigerian Roads Motorable” at the Hilton in Abuja on the 13th January,
2006. In that workshop, recommendations were made that the private sector be
included in the building and maintenance of the roads, toll gates be
reintroduced, road funds should be established and road management institute
be established amongst others.

Air Transport
Towards the end of the year 2005, Nigeria suffered three unfortunate air
disasters. The Belview airline that crashed in Lisa Village claimed over 100
lives and for the Sosoliso airline that crashed in Portharcourt, over 50 school
children were amongst the passengers. There was also an incident in Kaduna
where the crew and passengers on the plane all died. Beside the three accidents
of that year, there was also several other incidences of aircraft veering off the
runway on landing or overshooting the runway or aircraft running into cattles or
birds on landing. Nearly all the accidents and incidences that occurred in the

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aviation industry in Nigeria are attributable to the very old aircrafts in the fleet
of the operation and the obsolete navigational and landing equipment and the
compromising attitude of some personnel in the Aviation monitoring/enforcing
agencies.

The accidents have brought the issue of the dilapidated and obsolete
Navigational equipment to the front burner. The findings of the commissioner
of enquiry into the activities of the aviation industry revealed the rot in the
industry and government is going all out to correct the rot. The old aircrafts in
the fleet of airline companies are being changed and the equipment and facilities
are being updated.

Transportation by rail
Transportation by rail was the traditional method of transportation during the
colonial era and the period immediately proceeding independence. Even though
the rail track are of narrow gauge meant for transportation of raw materials from
the hinterlands to the ports for importation, but with proper maintenance it was
also used for moving people from one part of the country to the other during the
colonial era and after independence. The rail as it is now is a sorry state. There
is hardly anything functional with the rail system under the Nigerian Railway
Corporation that is now moribund. Corruption and mismanagement that was the
hallmark of the period between 1980 and 1999 saw to the death of the rail
system in Nigeria. The rail system can be revitalized and wider rail tracks laid
in new places in addition to introducing electric train to make transportation by
rail more efficient and reduce the pressure on our roads and by implication
reduce accident rate on our roads.

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Pipeline Transportation
Pipeline transportation became popular after the discovery of oil in Nigeria.
Pipeline transportation is mainly for transporting oil in the country, but there are
countries where pipes are used for transporting gases to homes and industries
just like water pipes. The use of pipe for transportation in the nation is still
underutilized. The problem of pipe vandalization is a major battle that is being
fought in recent times.

3.4 Water
The relevance of water as an infrastructure can not be over-emphasized. The
relevance is more felt in the industries where water is used for production; in
fire fighting services; and at home for cooking, drinking and other domestic
uses. According to World Bank, Nigeria’s total water resource available/capital
(m3) including water flow from other countries is 2,260m3 and the annual use as
the percentage of the total is 1.4 (1980-2000). This shows an under-exploitation,
operation, control and management of the abundant water resource. Water
supply especially from the public mains has been unreliable over the years. It is
even worse in the villages where people have resorted to unclean water for
domestic uses and other applications. In the towns where there is more
concentration of industries, the problem is usually that of exploitation and
efficient distribution of water to places where they are needed. Some of the
problems affecting the generation and distribution of water are:
(a) Lack of enough resources to change ageing water generation and
distribution equipment.
(b) Shortage of dedicated, efficient and properly trained manpower to man
this equipment.
(c) Misappropriation and in some cases outright embezzlement of funds
meant for the maintenance of the few available equipment.

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 (d) Indiscriminate digging of ground for construction purposes that in
most cases leads to destruction of distribution of pipes.

The availability of adequate water resources in the country shows that

opportunity abounds if the resource is well utilized. To ensure proper utilization
of water resources and management of the available water resources to meet
industrial and domestic uses, there is need for privatization of the generation
and supply of water resources. This is to ensure efficiency and judicious
utilization of funds meant to see to the growth of the supply and generation
system.

3.5 Agriculture
Agriculture was the main stay of the nation’s economy before the discovery and
commercial exploitation of oil. Even though it was not a mechanized type of
agriculture, there were indicators that being the major revenue earner for the
country then it was only a matter of time before the agricultural practices
become mechanized. The plan however did not see the light of the day. With oil
boom era, able-body men that were the backbone of subsistence agriculture left
the farms and villages to pursue non available white collar jobs (civil service
jobs) and left subsistence agriculture for our old parents.

Mechanized agriculture is an easy type of agricultural practice where the

utilization of machinery and other farm implements make work easier, faster
and produce greater yield. This is because of the advancement in technology
and better infrastructural facilities needed for better agricultural output. But
unfortunately enough, the infrastructural facilities needed to boost agricultural
yield are non available. This is mainly due to low investment in Science and
Technology. With mechanized agriculture ably supported by good
infrastructure, high population normally required for subsistence agriculture

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will not be necessary anymore. Better infrastructure that will contribute to
greater agricultural practices can be better achieved if there are more investment
in Science and Technology that will produce tools and implements needed for
mechanized farming.

3.6 Telecommunication
The information age has made technology, particularly Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) indispensable. Nigeria is often identified as
the fastest moving economy and one of the most advanced ICT market sectors
in the Africa. It has the largest population in Africa, also making it an attractive
and big market. Telecommunication infrastructure is particularly important,
because of its far-reaching impact. Telecommunication infrastructure remains
one of the major issues affecting technology deployment required for growth
and development in Nigeria. There has however been massive improvement in
infrastructure over the past few years. Nigeria has certainly left the telecomm
state where there were only a few dial-up e-mail providers and Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) and when Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) was
the only Telecommunications operator. It was a dark era characterized by slow
internet links, poor service, high cost, lack of infrastructure and an
unprogressive telecoms monopoly. Things have certainly changed. Deregulation
of the telecommunications sector led to the introduction of major Global System
of Mobile Communications (GSM).

The GSM revolution began in August 2001 and changed the face of Information
and Communications Technology in Nigeria. But the picture will not however
be complete without mentioning the Private Telephone Operators (PTOs) and
other landmarks such as the licensing of Globacom as Nigeria's second national
operator (SNO) as well as the licensing of 22 fixed wireless operators. Since the
GSM launch, mobile telephony has rapidly become the most popular method of

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voice communication in Nigeria. Growth has been so rapid that Nigeria has
been rightly described in various fora as "one of the fastest growing GSM
markets in the world". Indeed these developments have been truly explosive:
today Nigeria has about five million mobile lines and about one million fixed
lines, compared with just about 450,000 working lines from NITEL five years
ago.

But Nigeria's telecom infrastructure story and growth has not been due to GSM
alone. For example, GSM does not have much to do with the upsurge in internet
usage and access. In essence it is the combined activities of Nigeria's telecoms
providers. GSM, FWA, PTOs, telephony and VSAT operators and NCC's
regulatory efforts that has led to increased competition and availability of a
wide range of voice, data and internet applications and services. The
improvement in the telecom situation in Nigeria has made significant impact in
all sectors - commerce, social and educational. Although most of the impact is
presently felt only in the urban centers, NCC has announced plans to ensure the
telecomms revolution also touches the rural populace. As noted by one of the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) publications, there is "a direct
correlation between access to telecommunications, economic wealth, and social
development".

The telecomm boom has resulted in greater usage of Internet Technology,

growth and availability of cyber cafés, increased internet provision by ISPs and
PTOs, increased communications services (mobile telephony, e-mail, VOIP),
reduction of internet costs, online information gathering and research, e-
learning, Internet business opportunities, online advertising opportunities as
well as developments in e-banking. Growth has been phenomenal because
Nigeria’s size is massive and Nigerians have been starved of such access for
decades. A kind of, “Thank God the drought is over” experience. So, while

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there might be an IT or Telecomms downturn in the rest of the world, the ICT
sector in Africa especially in places like Nigeria continues to boom.

With the opening up of the telecom space further dramatic growth is expected
as service and reliability demands increase. However, in-depth penetration and
qualitative infrastructure growth is critical.

4.0 ENGINEERING INFRASTRUCTURE

Engineering Infrastructure is defined as those capabilities and physical plants

which are required to enable a prolific machine design and production to take
place. Prior to urbanization people lived simple lives with everybody
depending more or less on nature for survival; all that has changed, with
thousands, sometimes millions of people living together in a city, sharing
facilities. In most cases, these facilities have to be shared within the city and
sometimes amongst cities. For the effective running of the cities, a functional
infrastructure must be provided. For example, adequate provision must be made
for transportation infrastructure to include land, sea and air. Further more land
infrastructural development will not be functional without roads, vehicles,
motor packs etc. For sea or water transport, there must be waterways, sea ports,
ships and vessels etc.

In providing power infrastructure, facilities such as generating stations,

transmission lines, distribution lines, switch gears, transformers, petroleum
extraction and distribution etc. must be provided within and amongst cities.
Educational infrastructure must provide schools, teachers, laboratories, libraries,
etc. the health infrastructure must include hospitals, health workers, drugs and
equipment, etc. Other infrastructures that must be provided include agriculture,

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social service, etc. The social service must provide adequate security and a
judicial and legislative framework for effective running of the city.

The existence and functionality of these infrastructures in a nation determines

her level of development. Thus the developed nations of the world are noted for
the high level of their existence and functionality of their infrastructure. These
nations have, over the years, developed their infrastructure base to a level where
they are abundantly available and effectively functional. Attributed to this is the
fact that they have the resources and the zeal to develop and sustain their
infrastructure. The resources they utilize are not only monetary but mostly in
terms of the skilled personnel, machinery and engineering materials required for
building and maintaining the infrastructures. The utilization of skilled
personnel, machinery and engineering materials could be referred to as
engineering infrastructure.

5.0 DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING INFRASTRUCTURE IN

NIGERIA: NASENI MODEL

Nigeria depends heavily on imports and this has drastically affected our
infrastructural development. Our dependence on the developed nations has
inhibited the evolution of our own engineering infrastructural base.

Our complete and absolute dependence on other countries’ engineering

infrastructure has kept our nation in an aggravating debt trap and the only
means of escape is the urgent establishment and sustenance of our own
functional engineering infrastructural base. We must all accept the fact that
Nigeria must take deliberate steps to establish its own capability in the mass

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production of the equipment and machinery, which its growing economy
requires in large numbers.

However, while it is granted that the ready availability of machinery is what

makes the difference between high productivity and sustenance, between
reliability and dependence and between wealth and poverty, there are thousands
of machinery types which a modern economy utilizes. “Obviously, the active
involvement of Government in the establishment of an engineering
infrastructure does not mean that Government should be actively involved in the
mass production of this innumerable number of types of machinery.”[4]

This role of a functional engineering infrastructure base are numerous and must
include amongst others: providing the infrastructural base on which
industrialization and development can thrive; development of raw materials for
industries; new products development; innovations for improvement of
industrial fortunes; providing the engineering infrastructure for the industrial
sector; providing machines and spare parts required by industries; providing the
equipment and machines required for rural development activities; evolution of
domestic technology capability in manufacturing; developing skilled human
resources and relevant manpower for the industrial sector; and conceptualisation
and construction of the different infrastructure required for development
activities.

In order to actualize these roles, Government has actually set up a good

Research and Development system for development of engineering and
technology in the country. The size of the research and development work going
on in the system in Nigeria can be assessed by the recent publication of profiles
of selected commercialisable research and development results and
publications. [5, 6]

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There are at least 66 different Research and Development institutions, excluding
tertiary institutions described in those publications with different mandates (See
Appendix A). One of the institutions devoted to the Development of
Engineering Infrastructure (EI) is the National Agency for Science and
Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). The Agency was established in 1992 and
later as a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology
(FMS&T). It was set up to execute all aspects of the Science and Engineering
Infrastructure policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria. [7]

NASENI’s mission is to establish and nurture an appropriate and dynamic

science and engineering infrastructure base for achieving home initiated and
home sustained industrialization process through the development of relevant
processes appropriate local machine design and machine building capabilities
for capital goods and equipment manufacture for job creation, national
economic well being and progress. Priority attention is given to seven broad
economic areas namely; Engineering Materials, Chemical Materials, Scientific
Equipment, Electronics, Engineering Accessories, Power Equipment, Hydraulic
and Pneumatic Machinery and Engineering Tools. There is an engineering
design centre which is setup to develop design capacity relevant to these broad
economic areas.

The strategy for using NASENI to develop a functional Engineering

Infrastructure in Nigeria is illustrated in the figure below:

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 Satellite
Industries

Science & EI
Development
Institutes

NASENI

Manufacturing Technologies are developed and tested in pilot plants at Science

and Engineering Development Institutes. Secondary plants (Satellite industries)
owned by the private sector spring up from the work of the Development
Institutes. Such industries mass-produce the technologies or the capital goods
developed at the Development Institutes. The tertiary plants (private sector)
would in time spring up to provide supplies to the secondary plants. At present,
NASENI operates seven Development Institutes across the country.

These Institutes are: Scientific Equipment Development Institute, Enugu (SEDI-

E); Scientific Equipment Development Institute, Minna (SEDI-M); Electronic
Development Institutes (ELDI) (formerly, Centre for Adaptation of Technology
(CAT)) Awka; Engineering Materials Development Institute (EMDI), Akure;
Hydraulic Equipment Development Institute (HEDI), Kano; National
Engineering Design Development Institute (NEDDI), Nnewi and Power

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Equipment and Electrical Machines Development Institute (PEEMADI), Okene.
Two other Development Institutes: the Heavy Machinery and Equipment
Development Institute (HEMEDI) and Chemical Equipment and Machinery
Development Institute (CEMADI), are planned for Bauchi and Port Harcourt
respectively.

The role of NASENI should not be confused with that of other institutions set
up to develop prototypes of machines and processes. Ours is to ensure that the
Engineering Infrastructure required to translate the innovations into commercial
capital goods are available and functional. When these are developed, they are
transferred to the private sector. The model used is the hybrid technology
development and diffusion of the demand pull model and the technology push
model. [8, 9]

6.0 ENGINEERING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR NATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT – PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Innovations and inventions thrive on availability of adequate and functional

Engineering Infrastructure. Indeed no nation can develop without an adequate
and functional Engineering Infrastructure. So it goes to say that the
development and sustenance of a sound and functional Engineering
Infrastructural base is actually the Development of Nigeria. In the process of
developing the engineering infrastructural base for the country, there will be
problems which will generate opportunities.

Therefore, in order to develop the Engineering Infrastructure, all the differing

stakeholders must take active participation. The role of NASENI is to provide

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the enabling environment for the stakeholders to grow; it’s like NASENI being
a tree while the stakeholders are the branches of the tree. Some of the aspects of
the enabling environment which NASENI and the other stakeholders are
currently pursuing or must pursue in future are discussed briefly below.

These programmes are designed to address the problems militating against the
development and maintenance of a functional EI base for Nigeria. These
problems have been discussed variously elsewhere to include:

 Lack of political will to develop a grand vision for infrastructural

development for the nation. Various governments over the years have
paid lip-services to the development of infrastructure in the country.
There is no consistent vision and mission in this area.
 Lack of maintenance culture. The few existing infrastructure are never
maintained. Many of them have become an eye-sore and a national
disgrace.
 Lack of participation by all stakeholders in EI policy making process;
 The Nigerian economy lacks a critical mass of relevant skilled manpower
for engineering and technology applications;
 Government at all levels have not shown serious commitments in terms
of resources towards creating the enabling environment for EI;
 The non recognition and hence poor challenges for the few relevant
manpower within the country;
 The R&D system in Nigeria is characterized by inadequate funding, poor
facilities and poorly motivated manpower. The Scientists and Engineers
involved in R & D in our tertiary institutions are seen as radicals with
little to contribute to the development of the country.
 Poor linkages between R&D institutions and the industries;

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  Reluctance of industries to invite R&D institutions to solve their
problems;
 Difficulties in commercializing R&D results;
 Absence of a technology culture in the society;
 Very difficult and inconsistent economic environment for engineering
operations.
 Poor power and utilities supplies. [10, 11, 12, 13, 14]

6.1 Reverse Engineering Programme

Many of the machines required for a functional EI are already in existence
outside the country. In order to avoid attempting to reinvent the wheel, one
option is to use reverse engineering to domesticate technologies. This approach
involves acquiring an imported machine, “tearing it apart” and redesigning it.
The redesign will include producing parts drawing and manufacturing layout
such that any fabricator or manufacturer can produce it. This concept has been
successfully used to replicate and proliferate some machines within the
NASENI family. At present work is in progress in using reverse engineering to
reproduce the following machines: single axle tractor, potato processing plant,
interlocking brick making machine and small hydro power equipments. There is
already a success story on the reverse engineering of the seed oil expeller. The
prototype oil expeller is now available and has been used to produce groundnut
oil and palm kernel oil. The manufacturing layout is available and would be
published at an Investors’ Forum which would be organised soon.

6.2 Industrial Cluster Programme

The role of industrial clusters in technology development has been
acknowledged by many. In Nigeria, industrial clusters have been identified in a
number of areas including Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna, Onitsha/Nnewi and
Aba [12]. A number of Agencies of government and those of international

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organizations (UNIDO, UNDP) have been involved in assisting these clusters
for further development. There is need for more work in assisting these clusters
to achieve their maximum potentials. It appears that some of these clusters
evolved on their own. Efforts need to be directed towards establishing more
clusters in areas with the potential. The continuous development of industrial
clusters is a sure way to develop and maintain Engineering Infrastructure (EI).

6.3 Technology Incubation Centres/ Science Parks

The establishment of viable Technology Incubation Centres (TICs) and Science
Parks is another way of ensuring that a functional EI base emerges. Attempts
have been made in the past to encourage the establishment of TICs but their
performance has not been as expected. In order to revitalize the TIC
programme, the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology recently started a
process of restructuring and revitalizing TICs in the country. Currently, there is
a new Board for Technology Incubation which is now in charge of managing
the existing TICs and establishing new ones. At NASENI, efforts are underway
to establish a TIC which will be the avenue for commercializing technologies
developed by the NASENI family and in fact other R&D organizations. Some
state governments, including the FCT administration are also working towards
establishing Science Parks.

6.4 Satellite Industries Programme

Closely related to the TIC concept is the satellite industry development concept.
As noted earlier, satellite industries are supposed to spring up from the
technological advancement of NASENI development centres. The idea is that
private sector firms can establish new industries based on products of research
from research institutes. Such industries, of course, require some incentives
since most of the projects may not be immediately economically viable and may
be high risk areas where entrepreneurs will be reluctant to invest in. Presently,

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efforts are underway, to establish “risk funds” where potential industrialists can
draw from.

6.5 Promotion of Local Content in Industrial Machinery

Most industrial machinery in Nigeria is imported. This is because, at present,
the engineering infrastructure required for producing these machines are not in
existence. Efforts are therefore under way to have a sustainable system for
encouraging a progressive increase in industrial machinery content. This will
require an understanding with manufacturers and industrialists. Projects can
start with local production of spare parts and gradually graduate into the design
and fabrication of individual units of process lines and complete process lines.
NASENI is already working with some industries towards achieving this goal.

6.6 Investment in Emerging Technology Development

As Nigeria is battling with the development of what the developed world may
regard as conventional technologies, the rest of the world is moving ahead with
emerging technologies, thus further widening the technological divide.
Therefore, as we struggle to develop the fundamental EI required for existing
industries, we must work to establish the EI of tomorrow which are required for
sustainable development and use of emerging technologies. These emerging
technologies include biotechnology, ICT, Nanotechnology, Space and Satellite
Technology, New Materials, Robotics, CAD/CAM, Virtual Manufacturing
Systems, etc. Since these areas are capital intensive, there must be a special
funding for the development of the EI required for these technologies.
Currently, NASENI is working towards establishing such EI in the areas of
nanotechnology, advanced materials, ICT components, CAD/CAM, virtual
manufacturing. Other parastatals of the FMST are also working to develop
other areas.

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6.7 Development Programme for SMEs
For SMEs to fulfil their role as the engine of growth in the Nigerian economy,
their operations must be technology driven. NASENI has articulated the draft
policy on Development of Basic Technologies for Empowering SMEs. The
policy among others is aimed at: promoting interactive actions and participatory
programmes that will generate the emergence of relevant technologies and
engineering infrastructure for the SME subsector and promote integrated R&D
activities in support of the critical technological needs of SMEs. One of the
projects under this programme include mineral processing, agricultural products
processing, leather and wood processing, metal fabrication and casting, etc.

6.8 Proactive Advisory Role Engineering Infrastructural Development

For Nigerian infrastructure to be developed and maintained appropriately there
is need for different levels of government and major parastatals to be
professionally advised in a proactive manner. NASENI and other parastatals of
FMST offer high quality advisory service in the areas of appraisal, planning,
execution and monitoring of major infrastructural projects. These include major
projects such as TAM of refineries, LNG project, etc. Where the required
expertise is not within the NASENI system, the plan is to engage the right type
of skilled personnel from anywhere in the world.

6.9 Upgrading of “Mechanic Villages”

In most major cities in Nigeria, the maintenance and repair of vehicles are done
at “mechanic villages”. These centres which are usually designated by
government are actually run by private mechanics. A visit to any of these
centres shows that most of them, in addition to maintenance of vehicles, are
actually centres for engineering activities of different types. A closer look at the
centers will also reveal the fact that most of the centers lack relevant machine
tools which would have enabled them to do much more engineering work. It is

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therefore necessary to study and upgrade these villages into industrial layouts
(or clusters) by providing the required facilities for productive engineering
work. Similar work can be done with other “technology villages” such as:
Computer village” and “GSM village” in some cities.

6.10 Productive Use of Patents

There are over 40 million patents available over the internet. Most of them are
already in the public domain. One of the mandates of NASENI is the assessing
and re-packaging of information pertinent to manufacturing and process
technologies as a service to SMEs. Such a methodology engenders innovation,
quickens turn around time from ideas to the market place, thus allowing goods
to be globally competitive.

7.0 NASENI PROGRAMMES IN EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

In addition to our role to midwife and collaborate with other stakeholders in

actualizing the programmes listed above, NASENI is presently pursuing
programmes aimed at developing capacity and acquiring emerging technologies
which will fast-track the pace of technology and business in this and next
century [15].

These programmes are:

7.1 Advanced Manufacturing Technology

The focus of the Agency is a paradigm shift from the conventional

manufacturing technology to an Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT).

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The ultimate purpose of Advanced Manufacturing Technology is to create
wealth in Nigeria.

Because of the importance the Agency attached to this, a National Workshop

was held in April, 2006 in Abuja and papers were presented on some key areas
of the AMT relevant to the national needs.

(a) Virtual Manufacturing Laboratory (VML)

The process of machinery development is tedious and unpredictable using the
classical design and development approaches. With globalization and the ICT
revolution, design, simulation and development of engineering systems are
becoming more deterministic.

Virtual Manufacturing (VM) is the vital life-line of the advanced

manufacturing technology revolution. It comprises of a process of tests and
experiments on super-computers known as Advanced Modeling and
Simulations (MS), which is used by industries in the developed countries to
replace expensive manufacturing and equipment tests. VM can play a critical
role in the strategic fulfilments of the goal of Nigeria on science and
engineering infrastructure development, industrialization, poverty eradication
and national economic wealth generation. The only way to compete in the
global market is to provide quality goods and equipment. Quality goods are
produced through process reviews, developmental projects and targeted
researches. The cost of these analyses, researches and projects may be
prohibitive for an underdeveloped or a developing nation like Nigeria, but if the
costs are reduced sufficiently, it is possible to embark upon these meaningful
activities that are targeted at quality products. Virtual Manufacturing can reduce
the cost of manufacturing investigation and validation activities by 2 to 20
times, depending on product costs, making it affordable for Nigeria.

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Globalization has greatly expanded the availability of new markets, while
simultaneously spurring intense competition in all manufacturing sectors. New
technologies enable developing and developed economies to design, build,
distribute and support new and improved products with speed and quality not to
be believed just 2 decades ago. The goal of Virtual Manufacturing innovation is
to improve or revolutionize the manufacturing process and equipment from
requirement stage to design and production stage.

To achieve this aim, a massive investment in software development engineering

is imperative. In the traditional sense it is easy to overlook software
development when considering infrastructure development. In fact, the
development and management of software will account for as much as 25% of
technology development in the new millennium. It might also help to identify
who the competitors are. The president perceptibly alluded to this fact, and
vigorously encouraged the Nation to develop a software infrastructure, in his
Tuesday, October 12th, 2004 address to the nation on the 2005 budget proposal.

NASENI headquarters has currently developed a Virtual Manufacturing

Laboratory which will provide state of the art hardware, software and
intellectual capacity for design, engineering simulation, and computer modeling
of engineering processes, plants, machinery and spares. This will ensure rapid
prototyping and hence reduce time and money required from moving from
conceptual design to pilot scale plant development.

The VML is a suite of three facilities located at the Headquarter of the Agency:
The VML, the High-Power Computing Centre and the Information Technology
and Communication Centre (ITCC). The Virtual Manufacturing Laboratory
(VML) provides the state of the art hardware, software and intellectual capacity

Page /29
for design, engineering simulation, and computer modeling of engineering
processes, plants, machinery, spares, moulds and dies. The High-Power
Computer Laboratory will provide opportunities for engineers and scientists all
over the nation to send in (through web) to the main node, their complex
works/designs/calculations for processing. The node sends the work to the dual
processing clusters for solution and then back to the main node which sends
back the solution to the client. The ITCC will be linked to our e-library and
provides access to latest books/journals/periodicals/patents all over the world.

The facility will serve as a national resource in engineering manufacturing and

will be available to the R&D community in Nigeria as well as the SME sector,
engineering firms and capacity development.

(b) Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing

(CAD/CAM)
Computer Aided Design (CAD) is the use of a wide range of computer-based
tools that assist engineers, architects and other design professionals in their
design activities. It is used to design, develop and optimise products, which can
be goods used by end consumers or intermediate goods used in other products.
It is a very powerful tool that offers industry the ability to save time and tedium
in the drawing office, produce better designs and faster quotations and to
provide automatic machine tool control from a design produced on a computer.
With the use of a specially prepared software packages to run on the computer,
this offers an aid to engineers of all disciplines, and when integrated with other
systems, CAD becomes a comprehensive tool to form a link throughout an
engineering industry. Thus, CAD is a combination of techniques in which man
and machine are blended into a problem solving team, intimately coupling the
best characteristics of each.

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Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) may be defined as the use of computer
system to plan, manage and control the operations of a manufacturing plant
through either direct or indirect computer interface with the plant’s production
resources. CAD/CAM must be interfaced in order to achieve technology-based
improvement in manufacturing and continually improved productivity quality.

One of the constraints to industrial machinery development in Nigeria is that

most machinery producers are actually “road side” fabricators. Many a time,
proper engineering drawings and design are not used. The result is that the
machines are fabricated without using the best practices. Our programme in
modern design facilities encourages the use of proper engineering design and
drawings, which emphasizes good choice of materials, manufacturing layout,
procedure and standardization of components and parts. That is, machines will
have standard components, which can be manufactured by another entrepreneur.
The overall effect will be lower cost of the machines, and good quality control.

The Agency’s Headquarters and all its Development Institutes are being
equipped with CAD/CAM Training Centres and Computer Numerical Control
(CNC) Milling, Turning and Electronic Discharge Machines. This will include
the necessary software required for modern design. For these software, the
Agency had acquired six (6) site licenses; and each of these sites can
accommodate 500 licenses. This means that we can conveniently load the
software in at least ten (10) personal computers in all tertiary institutions in
Nigeria.

These are facilities that will revolutionise the manufacturing industry in Nigeria.
These facilities will be used for capacity building of SMEs in the use of modern
design and manufacturing techniques to ensure that products meet international
standards and can compete globally.

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Indeed the Agency is investing on human capacity in various areas of Advanced
Manufacturing Technology – VML, CAD/CAM, CNC operations, etc. The
objective is to develop personnel in these areas who will be available to provide
engineering solutions to organizations world-wide.

(B1) Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering is the general process of analyzing an object in order to

determine how it was designed or how it operates. Reverse engineering is not
confined to any particular purpose, but is often used as a part of a company's
research and development. The process of taking something apart and revealing
the way in which it works is often an effective way to learn how to build a new
product or make improvements to an existing product.

To reverse engineer, a researcher gathers data needed to document the

specifications of a product or part by performing a product inspection. Reverse
engineering allows researchers to understand both the form and structure of an
object and any aspects causing it --or the product it is apart of -- to malfunction.

When a product is engineered, the process begins with an idea that, working
forward, becomes a product. When something is reverse engineered, the
process begins with a product that, when examined reveals, ideas and other
concepts used to create it. Reverse engineering aims to duplicate the product in
order to modify or enhance the original product design.

The Agency is currently involved in various reverse engineering projects in

which a number of machines and processes are being developed after re-
designing thereby developing requisite skills and technology in their
manufacture and mass production.

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(B2) Rapid Prototyping (RP)
The demand for rapid prototyping technology and related machines have been
increasing steadily especially with the application in rapid tooling of machines
for the production and the processing of advanced materials.

RP is the creation of complex 3-dimensional physical models of a product

directly from CAD drawing with little human intervention. Then the issue of
risk and fear that are always expressed by the potential private
investors/entrepreneurs will be put to rest as they will now have the opportunity
to view such products on display as guaranteed and market ready.

Rapid Prototyping technology helps industries to improve their design and

product development activity by reducing design cycle time and eliminating
error early in design stage.

A laser beam is moved over the surface of the liquid photopolymer to trace the
geometry of the cross-section of the object. This causes the liquid to harden in
areas where the laser strikes. The laser beam is moved in the X-Y directions by
a scanner system. These are fast and highly controllable motors which drive
mirrors and are guided by information from the CAD data.

The exact pattern that the laser traces is a combination of the information
contained in the CAD system that describes the geometry of the object, and
information from the rapid prototyping application software that optimizes the
faithfulness of the fabricated object. Of course, application software for every
method of rapid prototyping modifies the CAD data in one way or another to
provide for operation of the machinery and to compensate for shortcomings.

The benefits of the Rapid Prototyping will be to:

Page /33
 Accelerate industrial growth and the transformation of the nation’s raw
materials into useful products.
 Provide the right indigenous machinery and equipment used for
processing of raw materials. Currently, these equipments are highly
fragmented with deficiencies in major supporting industries such as the
foundry, forging, heavy & precision machining, tooling design and
fabrication.
 Enable designers validate their creations and gain confidence in their
work, which would be exploited by the SMEs.
 Provide investors/entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to see physically the
workability of the product/equipment/processes they wish to
commercialize and thereby increase their confidence in the product.
 It will put to rest the issues of risk and fear that are always expressed by
the potential private investors/entrepreneurs as they will now have the
opportunity to view such products on display as guaranteed and market
ready.
 Address the shortage of qualified and competent technical personnel
encompassing skilled labour, technicians, supervisors, engineers,
metallurgists, and engineering based managers which has been a critical
bottleneck in the industries, especially in design & manufacturing of
process equipment needed for Nigeria raw materials.
 It will provide high quality post-graduate training and capacity building
for the industry.
 Help industries to improve their design and product development activity
by reducing design cycle time and eliminating error early in design stage
and ensuring the quality of goods produced.
 Assist SMEs, Research Institutes and tertiary institutions in their capacity
development and in R & D work.

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(c ) Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the Science and Technology of materials and appliances that
are of the size in the range of a billionth of a meter (precisely nanometer = 10-9
meter, 10 Angstroms). This situation has been described by C.N. Rao, FRS, a
distinguished world renowned Professor, as akin to having 1000 CDs in a
wristwatch.

In other words, Nanotechnology is the creation and utilization of materials,

devices, and systems through the control of matter on the nanometer-length
scale. That is, at the level of atoms, molecules, and supermolecular structures. It
is a highly multidisciplinary field, drawing from fields such as colloidal science,
device physics and supramolecular chemistry.

Nanotechnology is one of the emerging technology areas where Nigeria is

lacking in expertise. It is classified in the same group as ICT and biotechnology.
Already, the technology is being used in advanced economies of the WEST and
SOUTH-EAST Asia, to create high technology industries in areas of
electronics, medicine, development of new materials and space.
Nanotechnology has been identified as one of the technologies of the future for
Nigeria. This is therefore the time to key into the global network of research
and development efforts. NASENI has been charged with this responsibility.

The technology has potential applications in energy, medicine (diagnosis and

treatment of diseases and environmental ills), nano-porus materials for water
filtration, agriculture, electronic, etc.

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It is also noteworthy that the immediate past President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, has in the Science and
Technology retreat held on the 17th August 2006, approved Nanotechnology as
the fourth leg of the national development policy on Science and Technology.
The other three are Biotechnology, Information and Communication
Technology and Space Technology.

A two-day workshop on Nigerian Nanotechnology Initiatives was organized on

June 8 & 9 this year by NASENI. At the end of the workshop sub-committees
were set up to draw up a road map for the successful take off of Nigeria’s
Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Programme. The committees are in
the following areas:

 Nanomedicine
 Nanoelectronics
 Nanostructured and Nanoporous materials

7.3 Other Areas Of Technological Development

The Agency has made giants strides in other areas of engineering infrastructure
in the last two years.

7.2.1 Solar Cell Production

A joint venture project with a foreign partner is being executed to establish a
solar panel manufacturing facility in Nigeria using the Amorphous Silicon
concept and the use of Polymer electronics. The establishment of this solar cell
manufacturing plant in Nigeria will result to the following applications amongst
others: Domestic/street lighting, Water Pumping for Irrigation purposes, Power

Page /36
repeater stations and telecommunication booster station, Power traffic light,
small scale processing of farm products, and other applications in off-grid areas.

7.2.2 Solar Lighting

The Installation of the Solar Lighting system has been completed for the
NASENI HQ. This provides light for the perimeter and other strategic areas of
the HQ building.

These facilities are being extended to all our Development Institutes. For
example EMDI-Akure’s solar lighting system has been completed. Other
Institutes will follow soon.

7.2.3 Establishment of Mini-Foundry in Tertiary Institutions

Although the Rotary Furnace was designed, developed and manufactured at
EMDI, the Agency has assisted in distributing these to some higher institutions
of learning across the country, with funding from Education Trust Fund (ETF).

The Agency has undertaken so far the refurbishment and resuscitation of

foundry facilities in 11 tertiary institutions. Similarly the Agency has
established Mini-Foundries by the provision of 100Kg Rotary Furnaces in 14
Tertiary Institution. The current phase involves the distribution of 62 rotary
furnaces to tertiary institutions in the country.

7.3.4 Science Kits

The Agency started with the Primary Science Kit (PSK). PSK was developed to
ensure that the practical aspect of the Federal Ministry of Education’s
curriculum for Primary Science, a 1991 publication; “Core Curriculum for
Primary Science”, was achieved.

Page /37
For months, NASENI team of facilitators trained teachers in the six geo-
political zones of the Federation in the use of the kit for training pupils in
Primary Science. At the end of each training workshop, 20 pieces of PSK was
given to each participating state and FCT. This project is being planned for 50%
of Nigerian primary schools in a scheme involving donors being coordinated by
UNESCO, Paris. However, 25 more rotary furnaces are to be built in
collaboration with ETF and distributed to Institutions.

NASENI has gone ahead to develop a Science kit for the Junior Secondary
Schools.

7.3.5 Human Capacity Development in Engineering Design and

Development
(i) In collaboration with United National Industrial Development Organisation
(UNIDO), National Engineering Design Development Instiitute, (NEDDI)
Nnewi successfully conducted the following training programmes:

 Advanced Engineering Drawing and Design

 Fittings
 Computer Aided Design using the AUTOCAD
 Foundry Technology (Ferrous and non-ferrous)

More than 20 different participants attended each of the training programme

which was meant to develop engineering design and development for
participants drawn from SMEs around Nnewi Engineering Cluster.

(ii) The Young Graduates in Manufacturing (YGM) and the Collaborative

Manufacturing Scheme (CMS) continued to generate interest among

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 stakeholders. The YGM program is designed as a refresher course in most
vital areas that will inject design and manufacturing confidence in the mind
of young graduates. The CMS program initiated by NEDDI was to
collaborate with local machine shops and fabricators in both Nnewi and
Aba using their available infrastructure to manufacture component parts
and equipment working hand in hand with our engineers.

(iii) In-house and oversea training programme were undertaken on AUTOCAD,

AUTODESK INVENTOR, SOLID WORKS and other computer packages
to prepare staff for the paradigm shift to Advanced Manufacturing and
Advanced Material Technology.

(iv) NEDDI won the bid to redesign and fabricate equipments for some other
parastatals.

8.0 PROBLEMS AND CONSTRAINTS OF R&D IN NIGERIA WITH

SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE MILITARY.

The problems militating against the growth and effectiveness of military R&D
activities in Nigeria are multifaceted. They have been highlighted in many
publications and some of them are highlighted below. These problems are
general. They are not limited to Military alone.

Lack of adequate funding for development work: Military R&D by its nature
is expensive. It therefore requires serious budgetary allocations to enable those
involved to take on serious problems facing technology acquisition and
development by the NAF. Unfortunately, feelers from the key players indicate

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that the R&D unit in the NAF is not well funded. With little or no funds, the
already established R&D units are more or less administrative units with little or
no substantial projects to carry out. Yet every year, millions of Naira is spent for
importatation of military hardware and software.

Poor Power and Utilities Supply: The issue of poor power and utilities supply
is one of the major problems confronting industrial development in the country
today. For the military, which deals in heavy duty machinery and sensitive
instrumentation and controls, this problem is even more serious. Some of the
military establishments have tried to address this problem by generating their
own power, water and building and maintaining their feeder roads, but a visit to
any of the sites shows that this cannot provide a long term solution and they are
not equipped to take on some of these activities.

Lack of Private Sector Participation in Military R&D: The private sector

has been established as a more efficient manager of business. The level of
participation of the private sector in military R&D and industrial complexes
development is low. The private sector sees the development of military
technology as government business. But this should not be so. In developed
countries, some of the R&D work done by the military are actually contracted
out to the private sector. On their own part, some private sector organizations
abroad get involved in military R&D in order to develop technologies that can
be sold to the military establishment.

Inconsistent Government Policies: Government has a policy of encouraging

local development of technologies, including military technology. On the other
hand, when the government wants to acquire substantial amounts of
technologies, it allows vendors to source the technologies from abroad. Such
inconsistent policies discourage the development of local capacity for

Page /40
development of technologies and manufacture of military hard and software.
Part of the reason for this apparent inconsistency is that there is no formal
Government Policy on Military Technology Development. The modest
achievement recorded by Biafrans during the civil war can be attributed to the
fact that a policy on local development of needed military technology was
articulated and pursued vigorously with a time bound task and target driven
approach.

Unfair Competition by Imported Military Products: The existing military

R&D and industrial complexes suffer the same problem of unfair competition
by imported technologies. With the globalization phenomenon, access to
technologies for production is supposed to be worldwide. However, the fact of
the matter is that their foreign counterparts operate in economic environments
where there are engineering infrastructure and financial muscle for R&D work
and for industrial production. Thus Nigerian military industrial complexes
cannot produce products that can compete fairly with imported alternatives in
terms of quality, quantity and price.

Use of Outdated Technologies for Production: A visit to any of the military

R&D and Industrial Complexes shows that they operate with outdated
technologies. In some cases, equipment acquired over two decades ago are still
in use. Although with a good maintenance culture, most of the equipment are
still functioning, they can not be used to produce competitive products of
today’s world. Development and production of new products with such facilities
are out of the question.

Lack of Accurate and Relevant Data Base: One of the problems confronting
Nigeria generally is lack of development data. This problem is probably due to
the fact that IT facilities are still at their infancy. Many establishments do not

Page /41
take the issue of data collection and dissemination very seriously. Thus it is still
a problem for R&D personnel to generate and use required data for research,
development and production.

Lack of Research and Development Equipment: Associated with the use of

outdated production technologies is the gross inadequacy of R&D equipment in
all military installations. By their nature, these equipment are imported and
expensive. With years of neglect, the workshops and laboratories are currently
without the required modern facilities for meaningful R&D work.

Lack of Emphasis on Dual Use of Technologies: One of the ways the

developed countries succeeded in developing military technology is to consider
the dual use nature of some technologies. Some technologies have both military
and civilian applications. These include transport (land, sea and air),
communication, information, space, manufacturing, medical and educational
technologies. Therefore, resources can be pulled together to benefit from
synergies. Some technologies which currently have more civil applications
actually originated from the military in developed countries. In Nigeria, such
potentials are not yet tapped mainly due to the lack of collaboration between the
military and civil authorities.

Lack of Collaboration with Civil R&D and Industrial Complexes: There is

little or no collaboration between civil and military R&D and industrial
complexes as of today. Most of the civil Institutions for R&D work and
industrial complexes are under the Ministries of Science and Technology,
Industry and Agriculture. The military institutions are under the Ministry of
Defense. There is no formal interaction between these two groups. This
situation robs the country of huge savings and progress which would have been
achieved if workshops, laboratories, personnel etc are shared in joint projects.

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9.0 NIGERIAN NATIONAL POLICY ON RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION

The Policy on Research and Development (R&D) in Nigeria is entrenched in

the National Policy on Science and Technology, a publication of the Federal
Ministry of Science and Technology.

The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology which was established in 1980
by an Act (No. 1) of Parliament, is mandated to carry out the following primary
functions amongst others:
 Formulation, monitoring and review of the national policy on science and
technology;
 Promotion and coordination of scientific and technological research;
 Promotion and administration of technology acquisition, adaptation and
transfer;
 Promotion and coordination of national production of scientific and
technological goods and services;
 Promotion and coordination of development of scientific and
technological infrastructures;
 Promotion and coordination of integrated, (that is, human, infrastructural
and institutional) scientific and technological capacity building; and
 Establishment and maintenance of relations with national and
international, public and private scientific and technological
organizations.

In order to guide the implementation of its mandate, the Ministry in 1986,

produced a National Science and Technology Policy Document. In time, it
became necessary to review the document; hence in 2003 a draft of the revised
S&T Policy was produced. The 2003 draft policy document was widely
circulated in order to receive reactions from as many stakeholders as possible

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before submitting it for ratification by the Federal Executive Council. The
revised policy document includes a background for each policy focus, the policy
statement, strategies for short, medium and long term plans, a work plan and
budget. The following Table gives a summary of Nigeria Science and
Technology Policy:

S/No. POLICY FOCUS POLICY STATEMENT

1. BIOTECHNOLOGY Government shall, as a matter of priority, initiate

appropriate steps to explore the use of
Biotechnology for the benefit of Nigerians and thus
ensure that Nigeria becomes one of the international
leaders in Biotechnology, through the provision of
an enabling environment that responds to the needs
of biotech industry, the R&D communities and the
relevant national and international concerns.
2. LINKAGE OF FMST The nation shall promote R&D efforts that are
UNIVERSITIES, focused on priority projects, which address national
NATIONAL AND needs.
INTERNATIONAL The nation shall put in place a mechanism for
RESEARCH coordinating science and technology R&D efforts
INSTITUTES. in such a way that link the Federal Ministry of
Science and Technology with Universities, national
and international research institutes, in a productive
manner.
3. HUMAN CAPACITY The nation shall through research and develop
BUILDING OF create the necessary environment, incentives and

Page /44
 NIGERIANS IN, AND penalties for promoting technology transfer by the
TRANSFER OF multinationals, while at the same time promote the
TECHNOLOGY BY provision of necessary infrastructures for
MULTINATIONAL technology absorption by Nigerians.
COMPANIES.
4. ENERGY RESEARCH The nation’s energy resources shall be developed
AND DEVELOPMENT and utilized on a self-sustaining basis through
research development and profitable application.
5. COOPERATION OF The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology
FEDERAL has the mandate for advancement of Science and
GOVERNMENT Technology and its activities have direct bearing on
MINISTRIES AND the activities of cognate Ministries such as the
THE FMST ON THE Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Industry,
IMPLEMENTATION Environment, Education, Communications, Power
AND FUNDING OF S and Steel, Water Resources, Solid Mineral
& T BASED CAPITAL Development, Works and Housing to mention a
PROJECTS AT few.
FEDERAL, STATE The Policy therefore intends to address the “missing
AND LOCAL link” in ensuring adequate funding and proper co-
GOVERNMENT ordination of S & T related projects wherever they
LEVELS. are found in the Federation, while ensuring the
understanding and cooperation of all Stakeholders
at all levels of Governments.
6. SPACE RESEARCH Nigeria shall vigorously pursue the attainment of
Space Capabilities as an essential tool for its socio-
economic development and the enhancement of the
quality of life of its people.

Page /45
7. APPROPRIATE Government shall facilitate and ensure the
TECHNOLOGIES FOR emergence of a large pool of technologically
EMPOWERING empowered SMEs as a means of achieving
SMALL sustainable economic growth, eradicating poverty
AND MEDIUM- and play a key role in global economy.
SCALE Government shall ensure an increase of the national
ENTERPRISES (SMEs) Manufacturing Value Added (MVA) from the
present level of $17 per capita to $100 per capita.
This will entail fostering, promoting and sustaining
the provision of assistance to the nation’s SMEs in
the areas of infrastructure, technical and business
extension services, testing facilities as well as
product and process research and development
services.
8. ENGINEERING Government shall ensure effective utilisation of the
MATERIALS knowledge of Materials Science, Engineering and
DEVELOPMENT Technology to establish a pervasive mastery of
materials development and applications for the
transformation of Nigeria from a
primarily natural resource-based economy to an
industrial giant within a decade
9. SCIENCE AND The policy statement seeks to ensure that Science
TECHNOLOGY DATA and Technology is managed with a view to
BANK optimizing the use of national resources including
human capital and to facilitate decision-making at
national and international levels.
The National Science and Technology Policy will
provide guidelines to:

Page /46
  Facilitate the development of S&T
information management systems.
 Provide reliable, up-to-date data on available
human and material resources in the various
S&T disciplines.
 Develop coordinated distributed networks of
S&T databases with appropriate links using
internationally accepted standard and format
for online local and international access.
 To ensure optimal utilization of resources
and seamless access to S&T data from within
and outside the country.

10. INFORMATION The Policy is to make Nigeria an IT capable

TECHNOLOGY country in Africa and key player in the information
society by the year 2005 using IT as the engine for
sustainable development and global
competitiveness as well as for wealth creation, and
poverty eradication.

In 1999, whilst the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo visited the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
Headquarters in Paris, he requested from the organization, technical assistance
for bring about a comprehensive reform in Nigeria’s Science, Technology and
Innovation (S,T & I) system. The Federal government has now embarked on the
reform of Science and Technology and Innovation (S,T & I) systems. This
project is coordinated by UNESCO, Paris with some financial aid from the
Japanese Government. The reform project, amongst others, aims at restructuring
the S&T Infrastructure in Nigeria. While the Federal Government has

Page /47
contributed $1,000,000.00 to the project, the Japanese Government has released
$1,000,000.00 aid to the project.

When successfully completed, would lay a solid foundation for a more

productive role for science, technology and innovation systems in Nigeria and
ensure a productive national Economy for improved quality of life for our
people.

9.1 Funding Of Research and Development (R & D) in Nigeria

Funding of R & D has been a challenge. The Federal Government policies vide
the National Science and Technology Fund (NSTF) provides that 20% of the
education tax and 50% of tax on foreign technology transfer fees be committed
to the promotion and enhancement of R & D activities in the country. It has also
been proposed that 2-5% of GDP or 5% of Annual Budget or 2% of Federation
Account be allocated for S & T activities effective from 2002 Annual Budget.
In 2004, only 1% of the total national recurrent and capital expenses was
allocated for Science and Technology. However, since 2005 the situation has
improved.

The following are funding sources exploitable for R & D activities:

i. Regular Budgetary Allocation

R & D Institutes request for funds for on-going and new projects in their annual
budget proposals. This goes through the usual and sometimes rigorous National
Assembly Budget Defence. R & D projects with convincing proposals and
specifically those in line with the current focus of Government usually get the
necessary approvals and allocation of funds.

Page /48
 ii. Millennium Development Goals Grant

Nigeria was granted Debt Relief by the Paris Club of Creditors in September
2005 which resulted in savings of $1billion annually. $250million of it accrues
to State Governments who were indebted to the Club while the remaining
$750million accrues to the Federal Government. The Federal Government
committed its Debt Relief Gains (DRGs) to programmes and projects aimed
towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The funds
available for 2006 budget were channelled through 10 sectors namely: Health,
Education, Agriculture, Water Resources, Works, Power, Housing & Urban
Development and Women Affair. Same was done for projects in 2007. It is
however noteworthy that Science and Technology or R & D is clearly missing
from the list of beneficiaries or as they are tagged; “MDG- compliant
Ministries” even though no sustainable poverty-eradication can take place
without S & T or R & D. At the recently concluded 16th Engineering Assembly
of the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the question
was asked; why Science and Technology was not regarded as being MDG-
compliant, the Special Assistant to the President on MDGs answered by saying
that only those who bided for the funds and were adjudged having projects
relevant to the MDG goals were given grants.

The challenge has been given to S & T and R & D Institutes to package their
project proposals well enough to meet the demands and objectives of the MDGs
and present such to the Office of the Special Assistance to the President on
MDGs.

iii. Funds from International Agencies

Another potential source of funding for R & D projects is grants from

international Agencies such as UNIDO, UNESCO, UNDP etc. Some of these

Page /49
Agencies have funds for projects in Developing countries. It is usually
rewarding to seek out information on available grants and find out how local R
& D projects correlates with those of these Agencies and where it does send in
request for grants for specific projects.

iv. National Science Foundation of Nigeria

On the 23rd of May, 2005, the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
announced a US$5 billion endowment fund for the establishment of a National
Science Foundation. The announcement was made during a briefing of the
President by UNESCO's International Advisory Board for the Reform of the
Science, Technology and Innovation System of Nigeria. This was aimed at
using the 'windfall' generated by current high oil prices to diversify Nigeria's
economy by investing in science and technology. This is in line with
Government’s determination for Nigeria to become one of the top 20 economic
leaders in the world by the year 2020

In addition to the endowment fund, six Nigerian universities are to benefit from
incentive measures which should enable them to rank among the top 200
universities in the world by 2020. Technology-based 'good business' zones are
also to be created in each State. It is intended that the US$5 billion endowment
fund is expected to be supplemented by donors and the private sector.

The proposed National Science Foundation of Nigeria would be an independent

funding body for competitive research and innovation projects and programmes.
Its main functions would be the provision of grants to research bodies,
universities, enterprises and individuals on a competitive basis; the equipping
and capitalization of research groups; and the establishment of research
universities.

Page /50
10. CONCLUSION

In this paper, we have shown that for Nigeria to be a key player in today’s
globalised economy, serious efforts have to be made to develop most of the
needed technologies locally. When these technologies are developed, adequate
and functional infrastructure must be in place for their manufacture, operation
and maintenance. The Federal Government has established a network of over 68
civil R&D institutions and Industrial Development Complexes. Being
developed in parallel are another network of military R&D and Industrial
Complexes. For Nigeria to continue to maintain her leadership roles in the West
African sub-region, there is need to reform these R&D and Industrial
Technology Complexes with a view to formulating a new military technology
development policy, establishment of a military R&D and Industrial Complex
Development Fund, and engendering dual use technologies and effective
collaboration between the civil and military institutions involved in technology
research and development. In order to bridge the technological divide between
the developed and developing nations, efforts should be made to invest in new
emerging technologies and a paradigm shift towards advanced manufacturing
technology.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In writing this paper, the author used his personal experiences and that of others
too numerous to mention. Where possible, these sources have been
acknowledged in the References section. However, the author is grateful to all
whose previous works have been used for preparing the manuscript.

Page /51
REFERENCES
1. Adewoye, O. O. 2005. Development and Maintenance of Nigerian
Engineering Infrastructure. Lecture delivered at the NSE AGM; Kano 2005.
2. NEPA Training Materials.
3. Sagaya, L. (2006) “Private Sector Participation in Road Development and
Manaement in Nigeria” Nigerian Society of Engineers’ One-day Workshop
on Making Nigerian Roads Motorable, Abuja
4. Ezekwe, G. O. 1992. Engineering Infrastructure: The Missing Link. 1st
distinguished lecture in Engineering and Technology. Faculty of
Engineering. University of Lagos. Lagos.
5. FMST. 2004. National Policy on Science and Technology, Federal Ministry
of Science and Technology, Abuja.
6. FMST. 2004. Profiles on selected Commercialisable Research and
Development Results. Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST),
Abuja.
7. NASENI, 1992. National Policy on Science and Engineering Infrastructure.
National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, Abuja
8. Rogers, E.M. and Shoemaker, F.F. 1971. Communication of Innovations: a
cross cultural approach. The Free Press, New York.
9. Lionberger, H.F. 1960. Adoption of new ideas and practices. The Iowa State
University Press, Ames.
10.Adewoye, O.O. 2005. Development of endogenous technology capability in
the power sector of the Nigerian economy. Presented at the Conference on
Building the Digital and Scientific Divides. Nigerian National Volunteer
Service, Abuja.
11.Onwualu, A.P. 2004. Engineering and technology for sustainable
industrialization and rural development. Guest Lecture, 1st National
Engineering Technology Conference. Waziri Umaru Polytechnic, Birnin
Kebbi.

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12.Onwualu, A.P. and Adewoye, O.O. 2004. Innovations in Engineering
Infrastructure Capability Education in Nigeria: the NASENI Experience.
Presented at the International Conference on Engineering Education, Lagos.
13.Adewoye, O.O. 2004. Promoting practical engineering skills for job creation
and poverty reduction in Nigeria. Presented at the UNESCO-NASENI
Roundtable series, Abuja.
14.Oyelaran – Oyeyinka, B. 1997. Nnewi: an emergent industrial cluster in
Nigeria. Technopol Publishers. Ibadan.
15.Adewoye, O. O. (2005), “The National Technology Base in Support of the
Armed Forces of Nigeria”, Presented at the Nigeria War College, Abuja.

Page /53
APPENDIX
Appendix A: Research & Development and Industrial Development Complexes in Nigeria
(Federal Government Owned).

S/N PARASTATALS MANDATES

1. Federal Institute of Industrial
Research (FIIRO), Oshodi, Lagos.
2. National Office for Technology
Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP),
Abuja.
3. Raw Materials Research and
Development Council (RMRDC),
Abuja.
4. Nigerian Building and Road Research
Institute (NBRRI)
Research and development into food
processing, agro-allied, textiles, pulp and paper,
design and fabrication of prototypes, micro-
electronic and information services.
To encourage a more effective process for the
identification and selection of foreign
technology as well as vet, register and monitor
contract agreements for technologies by Nigeria
Local Patents registration.
Promote, support and expedite industrial
development and self-reliance through optimal
utilization of local raw materials as inputs for
the nations’ industries.
Research into the use of local materials and
methods in road and building construction.

5. National Space Research and Pursue the development and application of

Development Agency (NASRDA), space science and technology by developing
Abuja and its Centres are as follows: indigenous capabilities for research and
(i) Centre for Satellite development to boost socio-economic potential
Technology Development , of the nation.
Abuja.
(ii) Centre for Geodesy and
Geodynamics, Toro,
Bauchi.
(iii) Centre for Space Science,
Nsukka.
(iv) Centre for Space Transport
and Propulsion, Lagos.
(v) National Centre for
Remote Sensing, Jos.
(vi) Centre for Basic Space and
Technology Education,
Ile-Ife.

6. Sheda Science and Technology To embark on research and development of

Complex (SHESTCO), Abuja. advanced nuclear facilities for Nigeria as well
as establish advanced research laboratories.
7. National Agency for Science and To establish and nurture an appropriate and
Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), dynamic Science and Engineering
Abuja and its Agencies as follows: Infrastructure base for achieving home initiated
(i) Centre for Adaptation of and home sustained industrialization through
Technology (CAT), the development of relevant processes, capital
Awka. goods and equipment necessary for job

Page /54
 (ii) Hydraulic Equipment creation, national economic well being and
Development Centre, progress.
Kano.
(iii) Engineering Materials
Development Institute
(EMDI), Akure.
(iv) Scienctific Equipment
Development Institute
(SEDI)-M), Minna.
(v) Scienctific Equipment
Development Institute
(SEDI-E), Enugu.
(vi) National Engineering
Design Development
Centre (NEDEC), Nnewi.
(vii) Power Equipment and
Electrical Materials
Development Centre
(PEEMADEC), Okene.
8. National Information Technology To ensure the implementation of the National
Development Agency (NITDA), Information Technology (IT) policy and to
Abuja. coordinate and regulate the information
technology sector.
9. National Centre for Genetic Resource To undertake developmental research, data
and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), gathering and dissemination of technological
Ibadan. information on matters relating to genetic
resources utilization, genetic engineering and
biotechnology.
10. Regional Programme for Technology To embark on research and development of
Management (REPTEM), Lagos. management of science and technology
resources in the West African Sub- Region.
11. National Centre for Technology To train and carry out research in technology
Management (NACETEM), Ile- Ife. management and developing high- level
manpower in science and technology policy
formulation.
12. Nigerian Institute for Research into Trypanosomiasis and
Trypanosomiasis Research (NITR), Onchoerciasis generally, especially the
Kaduna. pathology, immunology and methods of
treatment of the diseases.
13. Federal College of Chemical and To train middle- level manpower in all aspects
Leather Technology (CHELTECH), of chemical and leather technology.
Zaria.
14. Nigerian Natural Medicine Initiate policy and improve the knowledge on
Development Agency (NNMDA), the practice and potential of natural medicine
Lagos. with a view to fully developing and integrating
it into the National Health care delivery system.
15. Project Development Institute Research into engineering, design and
(PRODA), Enugu. fabrication, ceramic products electrical and
electronic products and energy including coal
and scientific equipment.

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16. National Research Institute for Carry out research and development work into
Chemical Technology (NARICT), processes for the conversion of solid minerals,
Zaria. petroleum and agricultural raw materials into
useful industrial chemicals, petrochemicals and
polymers.
17. Energy Commission of Nigeria To conduct research and to develop energy
(ECN), Abuja and its Centres: facilities for Nigeria, for ensuring adequate
(i) Usman Danfodio Energy supply of energy at affordable cost and to
Research Centre, Sokoto enhance at affordable our national security.
(ii) Centre for Energy Research and
Development, A.B.U, Zaria
(iii) Centre for Energy Research
and Development, OAU, Ife
(iv) Centre for Energy and Training,
UNN, Nsukka
18. Nigerian Institute of Science To advance science laboratory technology
Laboratory Technology (NISLT), profession in Nigeria.
Ibadan.
19. National Board for Technology To coordinate the activities of the Technology
Incubation (NBTI), Abuja and 15 Incubation Centers designed to nurture new
Technology Incubation Centres. start- up businesses that engage in science and
technology based activities.
20. National Biotechnology Development To empower the nation to become self- reliant
Agency (NABDA), Abuja and its in the development and application of
Centres as follows: biotechnology-based products and services.
(i) North West Zonal Biotechnology
Centre, Ahmadu Bellow University,
Zaria
(ii) South West Zonal
Biotechnology Centre, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan..
(iii) North Central Zonal
Biotechnology Centre, University of
Jos, Jos.
iv. North-East Zonal Biotechology
Centre, University of Maiduguri,
Maidugurui.
v. South-East Zonal Biotechnology
Centre, University of Nigeria,
Nsukka.
vi. South-South Zonal Biotechnology
Centre, University of Port-Harcourt.

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B) FEDERAL MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
21. Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Research into coca, kola, cashew, coffee and
Ibadan tea.
22. Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria Research into natural forests, plantations,
(FRIN), Ibadan woods products and wild life.
23. Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria Research into natural rubber and its by-products
(RRIN), Benin
24. National Root Crops Research - Research into yams, cassava, cocoyams, irish
Institute (NRCRI), Umudike potatoes, sweet potatoes and ginger
- Farming systems Research and Extension
covering the South East Agricultural zone.
25. National Cereal Research Institute, Research into rice, soya-beans, beniseed and
(NCRI), Bida sugarcane
26. National Institute for Fresh Water Research into fresh water fisheries and other
Fisheries Research, new Bussa aquatic resources in rivers, natural and man-
made lakes
27. National Horticultural Research Research into fruits, vegetables, their
Institute, Ibadan processing and preservation; development of
indigenous ornamentals
28. Nigerian Stored Products Research Research into storage and preservation systems
Institute, Ilorin for agricultural produce
29. Lake Chad Research Institute, Research into variety improvement of wheat
Maiduguri and barley, improvement of farming systems
and all agricultural crops in Borno and
Adamawa States
30. Nigerian Institute for Oceanography Research into the geo-physical phenomena of
and marine Research (NIOMR), the Nigerian ocean bed and the contiguous land
Lagos mass research on marine and brackish water
fisheries and oceanography
31. Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research into oil palm, coconut, raffia palm
Research, Benin City and ornamental palms and dates
32. National Veterinary Research Institute Research into livestock diseases and their
(NVRI), Vom Near Jos control including the production of vaccines
and sera
33. Institute of Agricultural Research and Conducts research and training in tropical
Training, Obafemi Awolowo agricultural crops and animals
University, Ibadan
34. Federal Soil Conservation School, Train and produce manpower in tropical soils
Owerri as well as its conservation, flood and erosion
management and control.
35. Federal College of Animal Health and The college is mandated to conduct research
Production Technology, Ibadan and training into animal production, husbandry,
health, in order to improve animal protein
sufficiency in Nigeria.
36. Institute for Agricultural Research and The institute is mandated to conduct research
Extension Services, ABU-Zaria and training in the production and management
of mandate crops like sorghum, maize,
groundnut, cotton, etc that are commonly
grown in the savannah region of Nigeria.

Page /57
37. National Animal Production Research The main mandate is to research into the
Institute, Zaria production and management of tropical
livestock like goat, sheep, camel, horse and
cattle.

38. Federal College of Wildlife Training and research into domestication and
Management, New Bussa, Nigeria management of tropical wildlife
State
39. Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan Training in forest resources, parks and ranges

40. Federal College of Animal Production Training of Nigerians in the technology of

Technology, Jos animal and livestock production and
management

41 Federal College of Fisheries and Training of Nigerians in the field of marine

marine Technology (FCFM), technology and management and
oceanography, fishing and fisheries production

42 Federal College of Agriculture, Akure Training of manpower development in the field

of agriculture and farm management

43 Federal College of Agriculture, Training and research into domestic animal life,
Umudike health and management

44 Federal College of Veterinary, Training and research into domestic animal life,
Medical laboratory and Technology health and management

45. Federal Soil Conservation school, Train and produce manpower in tropical soil as
Kuru, Jos well as its conservation, flood and erosion
management and control.

46. National Centre for Agricultural To train and produce technical manpower in
Mechanization NCAM, Ilorin areas of agricultural mechanization.
47. Rural Agricultural and Industrial A scheme with a mandate of converting
Development Scheme (RAIDS), agricultural produce to a raw material of a rural
Ibadan industry. Developing rural area, creating
wealth and creating job for a teaming
population.

48. Nigerian Agricultural Co-operative Financing and supporting Agricultural schemes,

and Rural Development Bank financing and supporting co-operative societies,
(NACRDB), Kaduna financing of rural development project.

49. Agricultural Rural Management Training of agricultural extension workers,

Training Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin research in agricultural management.

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C FEDERAL MINITRY OF HEALTH

50 Nigerian Institute of Medical Medical Research into communicable diseases,

Research (NIMR), Lagos eg malaria, human parasites, etc, nutritional
defect problems, genetic and non
communicable diseases, public health, etc.

51 Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research into medicinal plants, herbs and drugs
Research and Development, Abuja development and formulary.

52. Small and Medium Enterprises To harness the prospect of viable Small and
Development Agency of Nigeria Medium Industry (SMIs) sub-sector as the
(SMEDAN), Abuja. vehicle for rural industrialization and poverty
eradication. To coordinate and support the
development of SMEs in Nigeria.

53. Bank of Industry, Abuja. To assist in resuscitating ailing industries and

promoting new ones to cover all the
geopolitical zones in the country.

54. National Automotive Council, Abuja. To rehabilitate, expend, sustain and encourage
the development and the automobile sub-sector
in Nigeria. To promote the development and
increased usage of local components parts by
putting in place appropriate tariff structure in
favour of local production.

55. National Sugar Development Council, To accelerate the growth and development of
Abuja. the local Sugar Industry in order to achieve at
least 70% self-sufficiency by the year 2010 &
thereby drastically reduce sugar importation as
well as conserve foreign exchange.

56. African Regional Centre for Design To promote engineering design in African.
and Engineering Manufacture To develop and train engineering personnel
(ARCEDEM), Ibadan. particularly in Engineering Design and
Manufacturing processes.

E) FEDERAL MINISTRY OF POWER AND STEEL

57. Metallurgical Training Centre, To train of Engineering personnel on processes

Onitsha. of material sciences (metallic and non-metallic
materials).

58. National Metallurgical Research and Undertaking Competitive Research &

Development Centre, Jos. Development of various aspects of Material
Behavior.
59. National Steel Raw Materials Development of Raw Material base of the steel
Exploration Agency. Kaduna. plants.

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F) FEDERAL MINISTRY OF SOLID MINERALS DEVELOPMENT

60. Nigeria Mining Cooperation, Jos. To coordinate mining activities nationwide.

To promote and encourage cooperation
between Nigeria and the external community in
mining activities.
61. Nigeria Coal Cooperation, Enugu. To research, develop and produce coal for both
local use and exportation.

62. Bitumen Project, Akure. To coordinate, research, promote and develop

the bitumen industry.

63. Geological Survey of Nigeria (GSN), To coordinate mining activities nationwide.

Kaduna. To promote and encourage cooperation
between Nigeria and the external community in
mining activities.
G FEDERAL MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

64. National Educational Research and To develop and monitor curricula for primary
Development Council (NERDC) and secondary schools.

65. National Mathematical Centre, Abuja. To promote the teaching of mathematics in

primary and secondary schools and provide the
tools in pure and applied sciences.

66. National Universities Commission To coordinate and supervise the activities of

(NUC), Abuja. Nigerian Universities.

67. All Tertiary Educational Institutions.

To provide training and carry out pure and
applied research.
68. National Board for Technical To coordinate and supervise the operations of
Education (NBTE), Kaduna. all poly- and Mono – techniques throughout the
country

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