By Sylvester Thompson
Dr Akintayo Omimakinde, Director-Goeneral of National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), said inter-agency collaborations would lead to minimal costs, thereby becoming a handy tool to save government’s resources.
Omimakinde said this at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) between NACETEM and the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), in Abuja.
He said the implication of such collaborations was to enable government agencies and parastatals leverage on each other’s strengths to save government resources in terms of capital flight.
The D-G added that inter-agency collaborations would take advantage of what was readily available in the country, thereby facilitating the process that would lead to minimal expenditures.
He noted that in an age where knowledge changed at the speed of light, no organisation could afford to work in isolation.
“The time we are in calls for active interaction and engagement between and, or among institutions to achieve meaningful development that will rub off on the society in terms of concrete impacts,”he said.
Omimakinde said areas of collaborations between NITT and NACETEM in the MoU included, fostering of cooperation between the Institute and NACETEM in the areas of technology transfer and adaptation in transport and logistics services.
The collaboration also involved data gathering and dissemination for operators, stakeholders and policy makers in the transport industry.
Others are; joint research and development activities in the transport and logistics industry for improved capacity and products services delivery.
Omamakinde said: ‘`Today’s signing of MoU is another step to underscore the significance of science, technology and innovation (STI) to all sectors of the economy.
“STI is a driver of sustainable development in all areas of life, it is therefore apposite to collaborate with other institutions operating within the STI space so as to cross-fertilise ideas and accelerate development.’’
The NACETEM D-G said that collaborating with NITT was an easy decision to make due to the significance of the transport sector to Nigeria’s economy and the critical roles it played within the sector.
Dr Bayero Farah, Director-General of NITT also corroborated the importance of inter-agency collaborations, stressing that it would assist government established agencies fast track national development.
He said the MoU signing with NACETEM was a significant in the history of NITT in terms of collaborations.
Farah said that NACETEM would also look into other areas for possible collaborations.
Mr Haastrup Olatunji, Chairman, Governing Board of NACETEM , assured NITT that the collaboration had the full backing of the board, adding, ” everything would be done to make it successful.”