Science and technology minister Ogbonnaya Onu appeals to diasporans to return home and help rebuild Nigeria

SCIENCE and technology minister Dr Ogbonnaya Onu has charged diasporans living abroad to return home to Nigeria and help build the country of everybody’s dreams as things are gradually changing and they will find it easier to relocate.

 

Speaking during a series of town hall meetings with Nigerians in the US, De Onu assured diasporans that old ways were now giving way to new ways of doing things. He was in the US to sensitise the diaspora on the Presidential Executive Order signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in February, aimed at improving local content in public procurement with science, engineering and technology components.

 

That order is expected to promote the application of science, technology and innovation towards achieving Nigeria’s development goals across all sectors of her economy. While speaking about it, Dr Onu thanked the diaspora for their remittances to Nigeria estimated at $22bn yearly, saying it is a major contribution for our nation.

 

Dr Onu said: “Please we want you to return home, it is important and although not everybody will return some can start coming home and that’s the essence. We are telling you that things are changing in Nigeria, which is why I’m here.

 

“I heard all the complaints, people will do this and nobody responds and all that and so on, yes, these are things that happened in the past and we can’t correct these things just overnight. This is the truth, there is no way you can make these changes and then make the corrections and all that overnight but the important thing is that there is a change."

 

According to Dr Onu, there are many Bill Gates in Nigeria, adding that if it was pioneers that built America, there must be pioneers to build Nigeria. He said Nigeria had never had it like this before about the level of infrastructure development that was going on in our country, stressing that there are changes across board.

 

"Please I beg you, let us not wait until everything is ready, somebody has to get it ready. If we keep waiting until everything is ready, it may never be, so we must decide that we have to look at the future of our children and grand children.

 

“Things are changing in our country and if all of us can walk together, if we can do that, then we can now build a great nation that all of us would be proud of. This is the message and I believe that this is also your intention that our nation will be a great nation, so please, you should never have any doubt about the future of our country," Dr Onu added.

 

He stressed that Nigeria has some of the most intelligent people in the world. According to Dr Onu, this is clear because Nigerians have done so well in the best universities and in the best research centres in the world.

 

 

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