Ewa disagrees with Senate over performance

Prof. Ita Ewa, Minister of Science and Technology

by Mudiaga Affe

Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Ewa, has disagreed with an alleged under-performance assessment of his ministry by a senate committee.

He said Nigeria was leading the rest of Africa in space technology and other related fields.

Chairman of Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Prof. Robert Boroffice, was reported to have chided the ministry for allowing the Raw Materials Research and Development Council to perform exceedingly beyond it.

But in a reaction while speaking with journalists in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, on Friday, Ewa said the ministry had achieved progress in the last two years and that the Senator’s assessment was not in tandem with the exploits of his ministry.

He said, “In the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, we have the space technology, biotechnology, solar and nuclear technology. In space technology, it is clear that we are leading in Africa.

“We are developing the next level of space technology called Synthetic Aperture Radar which shall be used for capturing the country whether there is rainfall, bad weather or not. It could be used on land and in our maritime boundaries to expose sea robbery, bunkering and other security challenges.

“Today, we have three satellites in space –Nigeria Sat 1 now calibrated, Sat 11 and the Nigeria Sat X. Sat X is very unique and was built by Nigerian scientists.”

He added, “We are making advances in Biotechnology, and as we speak, our various research institutes are bringing up genetic modulated plants to improve yields, fight pest and drought thereby improving our food security index.

“Few months ago, when the Bagga issue cropped up and there were serious allegations made against Nigeria, we presented satellite and aerial view of the community as captured by our satellites. This helped in solving that riddle before the eyes of the international community.”

Ewa said he visited China recently where arrangement was currently ongoing to bring in Chinese company on silicon value to train Nigerians on solar technology.

He said this would help generate electricity, adding that a successful test on this was carried out in a village in Sokoto some few weeks back.

Culled from PUNCH