Senate Makes Case For Revitalization Of PRODA, Enugu

The Senate Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation, Wednesday, called for more investment and proper supervision in all the technology institutes across the country aimed at making them functional.

The committee particularly bemoaned the under-production capacity at PRODA, stressing that such was against the clamour for the country’s economic diversification aimed at reducing poverty and fighting youth restiveness.

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The lawmakers made the call when they visited PRODA during an oversight function.

According to them, urgent steps ‘must be taken to achieve the mission and vision of establishing the institute by graduating it from its present production status to a more vibrant agency’.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Uche Ekwunife, said the visit was to enable them to have first-hand information on the state of the agency aimed at recommending the way forward to policy-makers. She said the goal was to enhance its efficiency and productivity.

Senator Ekwunife regretted the retardation of PRODA since over 50 years of its establishment.

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She requested the staff and management of the institute ‘to redouble their efforts in pushing the institute in the forefront for repositioning the Nigerian economy for the better’.

The director general of PRODA, Dr Peter Ogbobe, thanked the lawmakers for their efforts towards returning the institute to its optimal use.

Dr Ogbobe expressed the readiness of the institue to live up to its expectations towards making science, technology and innovation ‘the livewire for the nation’s economy’.

The committee also visited the production section of the institute, and supervised ongoing projects. They advised contractors handling them to adhere to standards.

PRODA is an agency of the federal government charged with the broad function of generating and catalyzing industrialization by carrying out industrial research from the laboratory stage to the pilot plant stage.

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Its mandate also includes rendering consultancy services to governments, industries and individuals. It is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST).

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