Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3 The STI System in Nigeria and S&T Cluster
Identification
Global distribution of S&T Parks tied to successful knowledge economies reveals
the advantages of using S&T Parks for sustained economic and industrial devel-
opment. Africa's current economic backwardness is clearly evident due to its
weakness and inability to effectively use ST&I and its outputs to develop. Stra-
tegically, Nigeria is a key country in the continent and the analysis of opportunities
presented by its STI system may indicate some hope for the future economic
relevance of the nation and indeed the continent.
Elements of the growing Nigerian ''formal'' STI system includes 129 Univer-
sities, 125 Polytechnics, 98 Colleges of Education, over 300 R&D/policy imple-
mentation Institutions and Centres, 159 standardised Technical Colleges, 214
Vocational Schools and 1,850 Registered Open Apprenticeship Centres. The
estimated STI strength of the Organised Private Sector, individual private scien-
tists and Nigerian S&T human resources in Diaspora have generally also been
assessed to be tremendous.
Despite these technology acquisition infrastructure/ingredients, clear-cut S&T
Parks have not emerged in Nigeria. Recently, the Federal Government has set
revolutionary goals and visions for the nation, all aimed at evolving a vibrant
Nigerian economy, that can successfully compete globally. The Vision 20-2020 of
the Government is aimed at raising the Nigerian economy to be among the top 20
most vibrant economies in the world by the year 2020. Indirectly, this is a resolve
by the Government to revamp and modernise its Science, Technology and Inno-
vation System to play the key role in production. This vision therefore does not
leave much room for the traditional long-term evolution of S&T Parks. A creative
and deliberate strategy is desired, and the ''Reverse Engineered Innovation
Clusters'' from the existing S&T institutions presents a feasible option.
4 Reverse Engineered Nigerian S&T Cluster Parks
The Nigerian administrative structure simplifies the emergence of regional clusters
for S&T Parks development. With 774 local governments grouped into 36 States
and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), further re-grouped into six geo-political
zones, the clusters of higher institutions and research institutes on this structure
have clearly indicated the opportunity of the reverse engineered S&T cluster
strategy. The following illustrates the point:
(a) Universities (129)
(b) Polytechnics (125)
(c) Colleges of Education (98)
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