NOTAP said the savings were achieved through its refusal to approve importation of technologies and services that could be rendered by Nigerians. Director-General of NOTAP, Dr. DanAzumi Ibrahim, disclosed this while presenting the agency’s scorecard to Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Edet Akpan, at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja. According to him, NOTAP evaluates technology transfer agreement in three perspectives ―legal, economic and technical, and only agreements that showed that Nigerian companies were not shortchanged were approved. Ibrahim noted that NOTAP is among the agencies given additional responsibilities by government while issuing Executive Order 5 geared towards improving local content in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) contracts of public funded projects. On his part, the permanent secretary stressed the need for the agency to reduce inflow of foreign technology into the country, adding that the ministry would continue to promote a science and technology friendly environment.

Source: The Guardian January 26, 2021 04:30 UTC