Technology Policy and Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Abstract

In the 21st century, the government and people of Nigeria are placing special emphasis on the technological component of development. In today’s world, technology has a critical impact on people and all areas of societal development, from communications and transport to construction and health care. In this study, the term “technology” is used in a broad context, referring to the knowledge, competencies and skills strongly required for technological development. Methodologically, the research is based on the secondary sources — monographs, academic articles and Internet resources. The main idea of the research is to comprehensively analyze the Nigeria’s technology and sustainable development policies. The performance of these efforts has been rather poor, preventing Nigeria from reaching a technological level comparable with that of developed economies. Rich in mineral resources Nigeria must initiate the development and adoption of modern technology to accelerate its economic growth. A review of Nigeria’s technology policy in the context of a long-term development is required. With a more thorough approach to the development of production functions and operations, such as quality control, maintenance, planning, etc., the level of national development would be much higher than at present. In the case of Nigeria, qualitative improvements in industrial production are directly linked to such factors as knowledge, expertise and experience. Overall, the authors conclude that vocational training for the sub-Saharan Africa sub-region is the key to bringing the respective countries to a new level of technological development. Meanwhile, in seeking technology, Nigeria must strive to strike a balance between industrial development and the environment in order to achieve sustainability.