Israel Grooms 66 Nigerian Innovators

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Israel has assisted in grooming 66 innovators in Nigeria in the last two years.

The Israeli government did this through its Innovative Fellowship for Aspiring Inventors and Researchers.

Speaking to journalists at the Innov8 Centre in Abuja, the Nigerian and Israeli mentors of the Innovative Fellowship for Aspiring Inventors and Researchers (i-FAIR-2) called for adequate investment on youth innovative and research programmes, to tackle poverty.

Briefing journalists yesterday, on the “Heart of Prototype” development processes in transforming ideas into inventions, the mentors said it had become imperative to support innovation as it was key to development and poverty reduction.

One of the mentors, Dr. Agu Collins, told journalists that the initiative started in December, 2021, and currently in the second phase of showcasing the technical processes of building inventions.

Collins, also a Director at the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), commended the determination by the federal government and Israel to promote innovation through the establishment of i-FAIR Centre.

He said, “This is an appropriate way to build local content, what I mean by local content is the combination of enabling environment and industry experts, which are some things lacking in Nigeria.

“Israelis who are industry experts that are actually helping the programme participants to develop prototypes; there is a lot we have to learn here as Nigerians.

“We must find ways to replicate the programme initiative across Nigeria; this has become important because we have the human capital of 200 million people.”

He added: “So, the question is how do you move the people from potential liability to asset, it is by injecting emerging knowledge in them, not only creating an enabling environment.

“Where there can be fusion and cross pollination of ideas with the aid of industry experts.”

In the same vein, Mr. Saron Paz, Israeli mentor of i-FAIR practical MakeLAb, said it had become important to prioritise innovative education to encourage Nigerians to become more creative.

In a separate interview, i-FAIR Programme Manager, Neta Hanien, said the initiative was apt, in terms of encouraging more Nigerians to develop local content.

Also, Communications Advisor of i-FAIRS, Mr. Deji Ige, has urged Nigerians to keep their hope of having a better country alive through meaningful engagement.