The National Centre for Technology Management, NACETEM has through a research revealed that Nigeria has become the recipient of obsolete and misfit technologies.
NACETEM is an agency of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Science and Technology that provides critical knowledge support in the area of Science, Technology, Innovation management for sustainable development.
The centre in a report said the development was due to reliance of the country’s manufacturing and service firms on imported technologies.
Dr Abiodun Egbetokun, Assistant Director of Research in NACETEM said a survey was jointly carried out by NACETEM and Centre for Innovation Indicators at the South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council.
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He said the research focused on the innovation performances of Nigeria and South Africa and how the productive sector of the economies of both countries fare particularly in relation to the creation and application of knowledge.
He said findings revealed that both countries use technology acquisition as the key innovation strategy but South Africa used more technology in the manufacturing sector than Nigeria.
“We compared innovation in manufacturing between both countries; we found a slightly higher rate of innovation in South Africa than in Nigeria.
“But, firms in both countries rely on technology acquisition (that is, the purchase of embodied technology through machinery, equipment and software) to innovate.
“In the specific case of Nigeria, most of the technology is imported.
“In the comparison of service firms, the difference in innovation rates between both countries is not noticeable.
“While Nigerian service firms still rely on technology imports, South African firms emphasise staff training as the main innovation strategy,’’ he said.
The director said both countries used technology acquisition as a key innovation strategy to improve the quantity and quality of their value propositions.
Yetunde Adegoke
