She said proper policies need to be put in place in the oil and gas sector to avoid political sentiments in the award of oil blocks in the country. Ezekwesili, who spoke yesterday at the Oil & Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) national educational summit in Lagos, emphasised the need for the Federal Government to development human capital, saying that the continuous dependence on oil and gas will not take Nigeria to its anticipated state of development. “Researches must be prioritised to keep up with the developmental changes in the world,” he said.He added that developmental frameworks that will address stumbling blocks to investments should also be put in place. He added that the board is preparing to launch a research and development fund where academia and industry practitioners will be funded to carry out researches for development of the economy.“Access to the fund will be on an international standard. And those researches will not end on paper but will lead to collaboration between academia and industry experts,” he said.

Source: The Guardian April 17, 2018 03:56 UTC