By Cyber Era NG Special Correspondent

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) are ready and committed to reviving their bilateral relationship to fast-track industrialization and eradicate poverty bedeviling Nigerian citizens.

According to a statement sighted by our correspondent and inked by Raymond Onyenezi Ogbu, on behalf of the Head Public Relations and Protocol Unit of NOTAP, this was revealed when the country representative and head, Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) of UNIDO in Nigeria, Mrs. Abimbola Olufore paid a courtesy visit on the Director-General of NOTAP in the company of Project Assistant (ITPO), Mrs. Abigail Izam.

Mrs. Olufore said that UNIDO started investment promotion services in 1986 to offer opportunities for investors and technology suppliers as well as foster potential partnership and give unique services to entrepreneurs and business institutions which, according to her, had metamorphosed into a global network of Investment and Technology Promotion Offices (ITPOs).

Olufore stated that UNIDO currently had nine ITPOs across the world in eight countries, namely; China, Italy, Germany, Kingdom of Bahrain, Russia, Japan, Republic of Korea and Nigeria, adding that the Nigerian ITPO which was launched in March 2016 was the first in Africa and currently extends its services to the ECOWAS sub-region with the aim of strengthening trade and economic collaboration.

She said that the ITPO Nigeria was primarily established as a platform through which Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and other private establishment can access investment and modern technologies that could fast-track sustainable growth in the country.

The  ITPO UNIDO country representative said that UNIDO had always worked in synergy with NOTAP and would like to further strengthen the collaboration in the area of promoting programs aimed at industrializing the country as well as alleviating poverty. She added that this would be achieved through organizing all year-round technology promotion programmes on the latest investment climate and business opportunities in Nigeria.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Director-General of NOTAP, Dr. DanAzumi Ibrahim, represented by the Director, Consultancy Services department of NOTAP, Dr. Adamu Tandama, appreciated the visitors and recalled that NOTAP had collaborated with UNIDO in promoting economic sustainability through scientific and innovative approach. He said that the Office was ready and committed to strengthening the bilateral relationship to achieve sustainable economic development in Nigerian.

Dr. Ibrahim said that NOTAP was established to regulate the inflow of foreign technology into the country and at the same time, promote the development of indigenous technology for economic growth of the country. He commended UNIDO for establishing Investment and Technology Promotion Offices in Nigeria, where young entrepreneurs can gain professional training and also leverage on the UNIDO platform to establish international business connections for their economic sustainability.

Ibrahim said that the Office had initiated various programmes to properly connect the academia with the industry for adequate utilization of research and development (R&D) results emanating from the knowledge institutions. He noted that such programmes as the establishment of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) as well as NOTAP Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF) were flagship programmes that had permeated into the Nigerian educational system.

He said that Nigerian researchers had done great in terms of turning out credible and peer-reviewed research publication but commercialization of R&D still remained a challenge owing to lack of entrepreneurial skills on their part.  He therefore opined that entrepreneurial development was needed to ensure that our research results ended up in the market as goods and services, adding that with UNIDO collaboration, the challenge of commercialization would be a thing of the past.

Dr. Ibrahim further reiterated the commitment of his Office to synergize with UNIDO in growing technology entrepreneurial development to ensure that R&D results hanging on the shelves in some knowledge institutions were harnessed for socio-economic development of the country.