Vice President Kashim Shettima has called for global cooperation in tackling existing and emerging challenges, saying “We must always remember that cooperation is our compass and the most realistic path towards maximising the opportunities and resolving challenges before us”.
The Vice President made the call in his address to World leaders at the ongoing G77+China Leaders’ Summit at the Palace Convention in Havana in Cuba.
Speaking to an assembly of Heads of State and Government, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Gutteres and delegates from over 100 countries from the global South, the Vice President emphasised the need to be focused leveraging on cooperation or partnership to find realistic solutions to global challenges.
Shettima, in the statement, expresses Nigeria’s commitment to tow the path of partnership with member-states of the G77+China towards addressing global challenges.
He also pledged Nigeria’s commitment to championing initiatives that harness the potential of science, technology, and innovation to confront economic challenges, particularly within the global South.
Speaking to the theme “Current Development Challenges: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation” the Vice President underscored the prominent role which science, technology and innovation have always played in resolving challenges from the past to the present.”
Vice President Kashim Shittima
Shettima who also delivered a paper titled: “From Pandemic to Paradigm Shift: Nigeria’s Road to Reinvention” said “Throughout history, science and technology have shaped the course of nations, insisting that phases of the Industrial Revolution, from the first to the fourth, and from mechanisation to automation, have determined the prosperity of those nations.
The Vice President told his audience that Nigeria is contributing its own share in leveraging science, technology and innovation to resolving challenges such as Covid-19 and the climate crisis.
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He explained that Nigeria understands that the key to advancing innovation in science and technology lies in fostering a vibrant knowledge economy and facilitating the unrestricted exchange of ideas, saying there is hardly any premier institution across the globe where a Nigerian is not contributing significantly in the noble pursuit of improving the human condition.
On efforts of the Federal Government to combat Covid-19 in Nigeria using science and technology, the Vice President said “the COVID-19 pandemic, while a tragic chapter, served as a catalyst for our brilliant minds in Nigeria to rejuvenate their pursuits in the fields of science and technology.”
He said Nigerian scientists have successfully positioned the country as a prominent global hub for mRNA vaccine production, a milestone currently in progress.
In his welcome speech at the opening ceremony, the President of Cuba and Chair of G77+China, Miguel Diaz-Canel lamented the precarious situations faced by developing countries who are member-states.
He noted that science, technology and innovation have only benefitted developed countries while the global South is largely still facing very serious development challenges; and called for collective wisdom to address the challenges.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
