The Federal Government says it has put in place a strategic plan for the enhancement of science and technology to ensure that the country will be competitive by 2030.

Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology made this known during the 8th biannual national engineering conference of School of Engineering Technology at Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the conference was tagged: “National Peace and Economic Transformation: The Role of Science and Technology’’.

Onu said that no nation could develop without science and technology, adding that it had concluded arrangements to ensure that Nigeria competes favourably with developed nations in science and technology by  2030.

“In the year 2030, Nigeria should be competing with the best countries in the world in terms of science and technology,’’ he said.

He encouraged students to work hard to be self-reliant after graduating from institutions of science and technology.

Similarly, Dr Abubakar Dzukogi, the Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Bida said that the socio-economic challenges facing the country such as insecurity, the downward trend of the economy and corruption among others have increased hence the need to apply science and technology to tackle them.

“Give a person a fish: you have fed him for today. Teach a person to fish; you have fed him for a lifetime.

“Teach him how to process and package fish for export and you have stimulated economic development. This is the work of engineers,’’ Dzukogi.