From David Onuoja, Abuja
The United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office’s Chief Scientific Adviser and Director for Research and Evidence, Professor Charlotte Watts has arrived in Nigeria to see, firsthand, UK’s supported projects that are helping to strengthen Nigeria’s science, technology and innovation ecosystem.
In a press release by Ndidiamaka Eze, who is the Senior Press and Public Affairs Officer/ Comms Lead, Prosperity and Economic Development, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office/British Deputy High Commission, Victoria Island, Lagos said her visit is to strengthen Nigeria’s Science and technology innovation.
During her visit, Professor Watts would meet with project stakeholders, innovators and partners in Lagos and Abuja, to explore the transformative impact of these projects on economic growth, job creation, and societal challenges in Nigeria.
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The Global Alliance Africa initiative, is funded by the UK Government, aimed at strengthening innovation ecosystems across Africa by fostering collaboration between governments, businesses, and academia. The initiative supports transformative projects that address global challenges while promoting economic growth and social progress.
Professor Watts is the most senior scientist in the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, providing strategic scientific advice to the Foreign Secretary, Ministers, and senior officials on key global challenges.
She also leads the Research and Evidence Directorate, which oversees the UK’s significant research and technology investments and supports the overseas science and innovation diplomatic network.
With a distinguished academic background, Professor Watts is a Professor of Social and Mathematical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Her research has made critical contributions to infectious disease epidemiology, HIV prevention, and violence reduction, including groundbreaking work demonstrating that domestic violence is preventable.
In Lagos, she will visit the University of Lagos and Hinckley Recycling, beneficiaries of the UK-Africa Technology and Innovation Partnerships (ATIP) programme, funded by the Research and Evidence Directorate. Hinckley Recycling, a UK e-waste recycling facility that developed second-life solutions for lithium-ion batteries.
While in Abuja, she would equally meet with Nigeria’s Minister of Science, Technology & Innovation, Hon. Uche Nnaji to hear about the Nigeria Government’s plans to develop a domestically funded Science Granting Council and meet with Dr Abdu Mukhtar, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value chain (PVAC).
Professor Watts has reiterated the UK’s commitment to delivering on net zero in the UK and to work with Nigeria through companies such as the Hickley Recycling to save the environment while empowering livelihoods with clean energy to power their businesses.
She will also meet with Creative ecosystem stakeholders cutting across music, film and movies, content creation to discuss an ongoing study on Nigeria’s creative landscape commissioned with Evidence Fund by the West Africa Research and Innovation Hub (WARIH), she added.
