As Nigerians wait with bated breath the promised change by the All Progressives Congress-led federal government, the newly sworn-in Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, has declared his resolve to be one of the shining lights in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.
Mr. Onu, who spoke on Wednesday night in Abuja at a reception organised in his honour by Concerned Ebonyi State Indigenes, pledged to work assiduously to emerge as the best minister the country ever produced.
“One assurance that I will always give you and I have said it repeatedly, is that as your son, I will never do something that you will be ashamed of.
“It is better for me to leave politics than for me to do something for my own selfish interest that will make you to be ashamed of your son.
“I will continue to act in a way that Nigerians will know that Ebonyi State is truly the Salt of the Nation.
“I want to assure you that I will make sure that I will be the best minister Nigeria ever had”, he stated.
The former governor of old Abia State and former national chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, stressed that no nation had ever attained greatness without science and technology.
“I want you to go home with these words: no nation from the beginning of time has ever become great without embracing science and technology.
“The U.S. is the greatest power in the world; the largest economy, the strongest military and the U.S. has the highest diplomatic potential that she has used in the maintenance of peace all over the world.
“But the U.S. was able, is able and will continue to do so, so long as it is leading in science and technology”, the minister noted.
According to the minister, Nigeria had the potential not just to be one of the 20 leading economies, but one of the 10 leading economies but noted that “we cannot do it without science and technology”.
He recalled that about 23 years ago, he started the Technology Village Project in Abia, which was disrupted as a result of military intervention.
“Science and technology will take Nigeria to a height unimagined today; we will do our best to be the instruments that Nigeria will use to get to that height. And I need your prayers; I need your support”, he said.
Earlier, a former Works Commissioner in Ebonyi, Paul Okorie, commended President Buhari for appointing Mr. Onu a minister, saying he made the right choice.
He also urged Mr. Onu to be a key player in the president’s desire to ensure uninterrupted power and reform of the electoral system.
Okories stressed that the reform of the electoral system was crucial because it would translate to the people’s votes counting, leading to the emergence of truly elected leaders.
I believe the minister