My Ministry Created 5.6m Jobs…I Can Unlock Nigeria’s Prosperity – Onu Declares For President

The Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, has touted himself as having the requisite experience to ‘unlock’ Nigeria’s prosperity if given the chance to serve the country in a higher capacity.

Onu stated this on Friday while declaring his intention to run for the 2023 presidency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja

The 70-year-old said having created over 5.6 million jobs through his ministry’s deployment of science and technology in different areas to help entrepreneurs in the country, he can offer more dividends of good governance to Nigerians.

“In our effort to rapidly industrialise the nation, Nigeria is now the home of startups. Using one of the agencies under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Board for Technology Incubation (NTBI), which has branches in all the states of the Federation, technologies developed locally are transferred to many of our entrepreneurs.

“Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are springing up in many parts of the country. This is good for job creation, poverty reduction, wealth generation and rapid industrialization of our nation.

“Our agencies have made breakthroughs in monitoring our skies, as well as critical infrastructure ranging from roads, bridges, airports and seaports. We now have the potential to monitor the integrity of our bridges as well as the foundation of our roads. All these efforts have created over five million, six hundred and fifty thousand jobs between 2015 and 2021.”

Onu added that leveraging on his educational qualifications and years of public service experience, he can help the country unlock its prosperity using “the key” of science and technology.

“This key is a knowledge economy driven by science, technology and innovation. This is so, because no nation has ever become truly great, whether in ancient or modern times, without the efficient and effective deployment of science, technology and innovation to nation-building.

“I am convinced that I have the knowledge, the experience, the credibility, the education having been trained in one of the best universities in the world, the vision, the integrity, maturity and a man who can be trusted. I most respectfully ask my political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to elect me as its Presidential Candidate, and the people of Nigeria to elect me as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for me to be the chief servant of the nation,” he declared.