The Minister of State for Science and Technology, Mohammed Abdullahi, has called on ministries of Education to expose primary and secondary school pupils to the technology storyboard project developed by the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) to demystify science and technology early.
The minister said this when NOTAP launched the zonal Technology Story board (TSB) initiative in Katsina State for the Northwest zone (covering Kano, Kaduna, Kebbi, Zanfara, Sokoto, Jigawa, and Katsina states).
He said Nigeria was endowed with abundant human and material resources that could launch her into global reckoning in the field of Science and Technology but requires collaborative efforts among the National Innovation Systems to actualize the vision.
Abdullahi said: “Technology Storyboard initiative is a step-by-step pictorial presentation of production processes of goods to enable students understand the processes undergone from the raw material to the finished product.
“The idea is for children in primary and secondary schools to go through these production processes on daily basis to develop the technology culture and at the same time grow an unflinching desire to study science courses.
“I urge Ministries of Education at both State and Local Government levels to key into the initiatives and ensure that all the primary and secondary school students are exposed to the technology storyboard project in order to demystify science and technology at the earlier stage of their lives.”
Declaring the event open, the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, who was represented by the Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation, Rabe Nasir, said the state was ready to embrace any developmental initiative by the Federal Government through its agencies.
He said the technology storyboard initiative was a vital teaching aid that could propel technology growth in the country and should be supported by all state governments.
Speaking on the origin of the project, Director-General of NOTAP Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim said in carrying out its responsibilities, NOTAP found that over 90 per cent of the technologies that power the Nigerian economy was foreign and for a country desirous of becoming one of the top 20 economies in the world, the situation was unacceptable.
To address this, Ibrahim said that in collaboration with some multinational companies operating in the country, 17 different step-by-step production processes from raw material to the finished products have been developed to be distributed to primary and secondary schools across the country to aid teaching and learning of science subjects.
For instance, he said Nigerians knows Soya beans and they also know maggi seasoning used for preparing food. He said with TSB the students would appreciate what happens between soya beans and maggi.
Ibrahim said the project was launched in Abuja few years ago but the Office needed to spread the good news to across the federation to ensure that all Nigerian students benefit from the teaching aid.
He urged the state and local authorities to produce more of the books and banners to ensure that all schools within their localities benefit from the initiative.
