The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) said it had encouraged adaptation of local technology via various interventions.
The Director-General (D-G) of NOTAP, Dr Dan-Azumi Ibrahim stated this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
Ibrahim said the agency was able to achieve this through its refusal in approving importation of technological services that could be rendered by Nigerian technologists.
“ Most times, when Nigerian entrepreneurs enter into technology transfer agreement with their foreign counterparts, the agreements are drafted in such a way that Nigerian contractors, technologists and service providers do not benefit.
“Rather, expatriates will be deployed to execute jobs that Nigerian technologists are competent enough to handle.
“Through NOTAP’s interventions, such agreements are not approved unless they are redrafted to take care of indigenous technologists and skills,” he said.
Ibrahim said these measures were adopted to ensure the acceleration of Nigeria’s technological revolution by encouraging local technology and stopping capital flight.
He added that in order for NOTAP to bridge the gap between the academia and the industry, it had established over 60 Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) the across nation’s tertiary educational institutions.
“Through its intervention via establishing IPTTO’s across Nigeria knowledge institutions, NOTAP had saved Nigeria a lot of billions of Naira in the last 10 years in capital flight,’’ the D-G said.
Ibrahim said that one of the missions of NOTAP was to promote qualitative original research through sensitisation and foster strong collaborations between universities and industries through the establishment of IPTTO.
According to him, the establishments of IPTTO’s was aimed at providing patents registration, promoting robust patent policy and driving commercialisation of products of patents and innovations for sound economic rewards.
Ibrahim said: “ Establishing IPTTO’s is to promote interaction and linkage between university/research institutions and industries.
“ The IPTTO is designed to develop a robust intellectual Property Rights Portfolio through patenting and copyright, technology licensing which support the Institution’s initiative in developing patent culture.” (NAN)
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