What does Ministry of Science and Technology do, really? The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, on its website, states on its Frequently Asked Question Page: Q: The activities of the ministry is(sic) not being promoted, why? A: It is not true that the activities of the ministry is (sic) not being promoted except that R&D efforts are not things that come to the limelight in one day, it takes a while before it is being realised. The ministry is doing all within its ambit to promote and propagate such activities. The response does not only appear contradictory, it is rather apologetic. Truth is, the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology scantily exists in public consciousness, not because Research and Development activities take time to mature but largely because the Nigerian society has a very low threshold for technological initiatives. The ministry, though it puts up a list of its undertakings –in several phases of completion- on the website, it can barely boast a narrative of groundbreaking research. They are mostly mundane and have no global application. This is antithetical to its ambitious vision that says it wants “to make Nigeria one of the acknowledged leaders of the scientifically and technologically developed nations of the world.” Nowhere online will you find a road map that proves this is of the remotest possibility. It left me wondering whether Nigeria -judging by what passes for her technoculture- is ready to be a scientifically and technologically sophisticated nation for another millennium. Scientific development is by accretion. Once a culture becomes technologically inclined, it keeps at it. It is logical, therefore, that the culture that conceived the telegram also created the mobile phone and revolutionised communications in a way that would have been unthinkable 100 years ago. If Nigerians are not oriented scientifically, how can we ever hope to do better than being consumers of other people’s intelligence? And how can we be technologically-oriented without paying attention to this sector of the economy? Or, without designating the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology one of the “priority ministries” to be actively funded for this purpose? By the way, I found myself on the ministry’s website while researching institutional means of supporting a project conceived some years ago. My epiphany came one evening in the Agege area of Lagos, when I stumbled on a crowd of people, young and old, huddled by the roadside and watching a television. It turned out they were watching a Bollywood movie but the characters were “speaking” Yoruba; some cultural genius had laced Yoruba over the original Hindi for the benefit of a population that could not easily read subtitles. The audience was fascinated because they accessed another culture’s drama in a language –complete with street lingo- they could relate to. When I noticed the audience was consistently captivated, I bought a few of the Bollywood/Yoruba movies, watched them and found myself thinking: What if these were expanded to educational materials? What if the children in educationally-disadvantaged neighborhood were exposed to documentaries of scientific explorations in Yoruba language? What would it mean if the children whose mother tongue –that is, the language they think and even dream in- get to “hear” a documentary on Animal Planet in their “vernacular”? Would they have a better understanding of the intricacies of nature? Would it lead to a multi-sensory perception of knowledge if they could see and feel what they heard? Will vernacular lead to thinking, innovation and invention? Was this not the point the late Prof. Babs Fafunwa and co made decades ago? The language project did not take off for two reasons: First, I did not have enough resources to find experts who could think conceptually in Nigeria’s vernaculars to effectively translate the documentaries. Second, I ran into several bureaucratic channels that I was too ill-equipped to deal with at that time. However, recently, I found some articles that delved into technological research and its future potential. The verdict was that haptic technology will give us more to touch, will be more interactive and recreate our world in such a way that what we think or say is “real” will change forever. It got me thinking about the place of Nigeria in this glorious future. That led me to the the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology’s website where I was confronted with a domain that poorly functions. I have a few unsolicited words of advice to the bureaucrats of the ministry: One is to expunge the website and replace it with something that actually screams “science and technology.” If the ministry cannot run a proper website, who can? Two, it needs an editor urgently. The extent of grammatical howlers on its website makes one shudder with mortification. Everyone can see from the portion I excerpted that whoever writes for the ministry is a product of the Nigerian quota system. Three, its domain could do with less vanity and chronicle more technology-centered pursuits. The ministry’s website, rather than promote scientific ideas is replete with hyperboles of who visited the minister. Four, the administrators of the site need to be responsive! It has been three weeks since I sent a mail to [email protected], making enquiries. Up till now, they have yet to deem me worthy of a response. Funnily, a solicitation for Science, Technology and Initiative documents exist on the website. Question is, if the ministry cannot respond to emails, why would anyone think it would take ST&I seriously? Still on the website, I noticed a report where the Senate Science Committee Chairman, Senator Robert Boroffice, lamented the poor funding of the ministry’s activities. Since the shoddily-written report did not include a date, I could not tell how long ago he made this observation and subsequently, measure progress made. From the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, I went to the National Assembly website to seek Boroffice’s address. I found [email protected]. It mocked the idea of “meaningful” but I didn’t think the Senate would be so negligent as to list a dubious email. I titled my mail: ATTN: Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice, and sent it. The mail bounced right back. I retried twice and it bounced back each time. I consider it not only rude but also irresponsible of the Senate to have a fake email address on its website. What then does it do with the humongous sum of N150bn it appropriates to itself every year if it cannot maintain a functional website? Besides, if after more than a decade of its existence it still cannot manage its own website, why should we trust that it can truly manage the legislative culture of a complex country like Nigeria?
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 02:55:18 +0000
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