In the National assembly today, a bill was raised to create more institutions for technology, which was said to not have sat well with few lawmakers in the house.

In response to the bill, the Deputy minority leader and member representing Awgu, Aninri and oji-river federal constituency countered with a bill for ‘an act to provide the creation and development of an enabling environment for technology and enables startup in Nigeria and for related matters’.

Addressing the former bill and giving reasons why it can’t hold water, he said “my understanding of the bill is that it is talking about a process and what is to be done. If we have a center for technological startups it’s understandable that we now create an enabling environment, but I believe that the mandate of the government at any level is to create an enabling environment for business and technology.

Giving an example with the ongoing ASUU strike, he reasoned that “If we get ASUU, their strike is a struggle an enabling environment, to get our grid that has collapsed it’s an enabling environment. We will appreciate the need to focus on technology. Let us do the little things we have to do. We have a lot of centers and commissions that are geared towards technology and its development, what we are lacking is that there should be a martial plan that will fund all the institutions we have created for technology.

“If through the instrument of appropriation we can create an enabling environment by funding what we have created it will be better. I believe that if we are creating a center for startup there are so many of them, we have renewable energy commission and about more than 100 institutions in science and technology that can deal with these issues.

“What is important is for government itself to be able to fulfill its mandate by making sure that we can travel through our roads, that the light works, that we don’t have a supply of aviation fuel that is compromised, that is the enabling environment, not just creating institutions that we cannot fund, and let us get our children back to school, you create an enabling environment where the students are not at home.

“All this money we borrow, if we borrow it and use it to pay ASUU let them take our children back we will have less of crime. So I believe strongly that the intent is good, but I don’t believe that the idea is to do what the bill is talking about, we should rather do what we have to do as government by funding the institutions we already have, not create new ones, so I believe that the bill should be stepped down and given proper reorientation and arrangement”, Hon. Okechukwu concluded.