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 Broad Sectoral Goals

1. Make Nigeria the technology startup capital of Africa over the next 10-years by incentivizing over 10,000 local and foreign innovators to setup their startup/technology companies’ core operations in Nigeria through the grant of Pioneer Status to breakthrough software or hardware technologies and social innovation models – with special focus on the local ones with smaller QCE which currently excludes them from the subsisting Pioneer Status regime.
2. Exercise better oversight function over 17 key agencies in the ministry of Science & Technology to ensure they are delivering on the targets they were set up to accomplish especially the Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHESTCO), National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), and the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) which sadly has had over 25+ Technology Incubation centers across Nigeria since 1993 consistently performing sub-optimally.
3. Aggregate between N500bn and 5trillion for technology and innovation development/ commercialization by incentivizing the private sector to invest in Research & Development yearly
4. Exercise better oversight function over the approximately N14bn annually allocated to research & development by government agencies and create legislative frameworks that ensures government-funded research are carried out with better collaboration with the academic sector. This will promote uptake of research outputs from Nigeria’s academic institutions for societal and commercial good.
5. Ensure transparent, accountable and competitive access for all cadres of researchers (undergraduate, postgraduate & faculty researchers) to approximately N140bn research grants allocated annually by the federal government.

Bills

STRATEGY 1: MOBILIZE TO REFORM THE PIONEER STATUS REGIME THROUGH AMENDMENT INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT (INCOME TAX RELIEF) ACT (AMENDMENT) BILL 2018

What impact will this have?

1. The said amendments will ensure that innovative MSMEs are not outmuscled and denied the opportunity to benefit from the tax holidays necces- sary to grow their technology businesses.
2. The amendment will provide for 15 years tax rebates, with innovative software companies awarded Pioneer Status paying as low as 0% tax rates in some cases this would also encourage up to 10,000 large local and foreign

STRATEGY 2: INCENTIVIZE COMPANIES TO REDIRECT INVESTMENT TO RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES, INNOVATION & INVENTIONS VIA AN AMENDMENT OF THE COMPANY INCOME TAX ACT:

What impact will this have?

1. Stimulate Innovation and Technological Advancement by encouraging companies and corporations to site their Research and Developmental projects in Nigeria.
2. It shall also stimulate economic development through the increase in foreign capital investment and reduce unemployment as new companies would inevitably result in job creation.
3. Incentivise R&D investment by introducing tax rebates for investment of at least 15 percent of profit after tax on R & D would encourage companies to invest a significant portion of their investment on R&D.
4. If these and other amendments are made, it will encourage foreign companies to commence Research and Development investment in Nigeria. If incentives like this were in place research and development projects like the Google artificial Intelligence Centre in Ghana would be attracted to Nigeria.

STRATEGY 3: PURSUE SPONSORSHIPS, REPEALS AND AMENDMENT OF BILLS THAT IMPACT ON TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

1. Amend the Local Content Act requiring that firms engaged in manufacturing of technological part
2. Amend the Local Content Act requiring that firms engaged in manufacturing of technological parts
3. Amend and mobilize for the passage of the National Research and Innovation bill that will create a fund for Research and Innovation by providing merit grants to universities on the basis of scientific excellence and intellectual merit whose research is socially beneficial in the area of science and technology.
4. Create a bill that mandates all Federal Universities to have a comprehensive and fully equipped research centre. Merge the National Institutes of Research with the Universities so as to have a more harmonised system of research and cut costs.
5. Sponsor a bill as regards Intellectual Property and Patent Law that will protect the rights of the creator of the technology but will also be flexible enough to ensure dissemination of technology. Also mandate that every technology or innovation produced in any research institute in Nigeria be registered under the patent law to encourage commercialisation.
6. Lower barriers for company registration for startup businesses in science and technology
7. Sponsor a bill that binds foreign entities that want to buy government owned equipment in the sector of science and technology to a joint venture agreement with a Nigerian company in that same field. In the ratio of 70:30, at most. The emphasis, is the joint venture agreement. This ensures a transfer of technology
8. Sponsor stricter bills on data protection and privacy.
9. Domesticate the TRIPS Agreement(Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights) and amend the relevant patent laws to have a stricter measure of deterrence and access to legal remedies as quickly as possible. Intellectual Property law is governed by the Patents and Design Acts Cap. 344 of the law of the Federation of Nigeria 1990(Act of 1970)
10. Amend the public procurement laws of the federal republic to guarantee 20% of all public procurements for MSMEs especially for those who use technology as an enabler