Dore Ousmane, the resident
representative, African Development Bank (AfDB), on Wednesday said the
bank had invested $65 million (about N10.21 billion) in science and
technology-related projects in Nigeria.
Ousmane said in Abuja that the projects
were meant to enhance studies related to vocational education, science
and technology as well to boost the technology sector.
The resident representative said that
the bank had two on-going projects and one intended project that would
start in the last quarter of 2012.
Ousmane said the on-going projects were
in the African University of Science and Technology in Abuja and the
skills training and vocational development project for students.
He said the intended project would be the Pan Africa University with courses hosted at the University of Ibadan.
The resident representative said that
the bank had identified higher education, science and technology as
major strategies to tackle the issue of development in Africa.
Ousmane said the projects aimed at
addressing the issue of improving higher education were part of the
bank’s medium-term strategies to improve the labour market in Africa.
“The bank is getting on a trend toward
addressing skills building and knowledge transfer; therefore, the bank
is now putting together a new strategy for Nigeria.
“In the context of that strategy we
intend also to address skills shortage because this has been a hindrance
to increasing growth in Africa.”
Ousmane said the essence of the projects
was to create youths with technological knowledge that could move the
nation forward “because the way to growth is technology’’.
He said the bank believed that the
projects would make a difference in the Nigeria technology sector as it
would help to create jobs for the teeming young population.
Source BusinessDay NewsPaper
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