The Manager, S. Adiss Agricultural Engineering Ltd., Mr James Adeleye has advocated that government research institutions should partner with the upcoming companies to enhance their productivity.
Adeleye made the call in an interview with newsmen at the ongoing Technology and Innovation Expo 2017 in Abuja, Thursday.
He advised that the government should enact a law to make investors to use 40 to 50 per cent locally made machines and other research products in the country.
Adeleye said that such law would go a long way to help both the government and private sector to improve locally made products.
He explained that his participation in the expo was to create awareness on the capability of the company.
He said that the company designs, fabricates and installs high precision machines for livestock, brewery, flour making, cassava processing and other agro-allied industries.
Adeleye said that the company had been working in partnership with the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Ibadan to produce the products. .
“Before we started the partnership with the institution, we were not perfect with the melon shelling machine, we could only achieve 40 per cent of what we needed.
“At times, the machine may not even work but when the institution came, it gave us the materials and ideas and now we can achieve up to 70 per cent for the machine and many others,” he said.
According to him, the bulk of the work is on the government, the private sector can only do little.
He said that the government could patronise the private sector or even fund them.
Mr Nkworka Chuks, the Managing Director, Jacey-jon Engineering Ltd., said the expo was a good concept but might not achieve its objective.
Chuks said that the objective of the expo should be to promote research and development activities and encourage Nigerians to take up science professions.
According to him, others are to encourage and promote creation of innovative enterprises utilising Nigeria’s indigenous knowledge and technology to produce marketable goods and services.
Chuks, however, called on the government to make the process of accessing funds easy to encourage technological innovations by individuals and groups.
He said that at the expo, all government officials did was just to congratulate them without any concrete promise to assist any of them, especially the younger inventors from secondary schools.
He lamented the way governments at all levels paid little or no attention to youthful creations and innovations.
Chucks called on research institutions to identify the youths that are interested in research and innovations.