Abstract:
The Federal Ministry of Industry and Technology (1992 p22 1) reports that development planning of technological adaptation and innovation through research and development (R & D) .was stalled by inability to recognise technology as a vital sub sector of the economy. This led to the reduction of budget allocation exercises in this area and in turn R & D budget was adversely affected to. • Furthermore, due to the negligence of technology from the planning stages, technical education and the professional edge required for functional technology compared to other aspects of education were hampered. This- gave rise to manpower without indigenous technical capability. Probably for this reason there are no made-in- Nigeria goods to sustain economic selfreliance and goods to boost the economy. Where there is any, the quality seemed not to be competitive on the other hand. Site visits by this researcher confirmed that there may be impediments to a desirable level of output in the application of local technology to business with respect to research outputs, products or findings from the universities and research institutes in Enugu State. Hence, these is need to find out the constraints on the application of local technology to business with respect to the contributions of universities and research institutes. The universities concerned in this study are university of Nigeria Nsukka and Enugu State University of science and technology. The research institution are: science EquipmentUNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA"development institute Lnugu. Project Development Agency Enugu, and Energy Research ccnter Nsukka. The study was conducted to identify the constraints on the application of local technology to business with respect to the contributions of universities and research institutes.To carry out the study ten research questions were raised and ten hypotheses were formulated from literature review. Questionnaire was used to gather the data from a total population of 101, made up of 38 university personnel and 63 research institute personnel. Computation of means was used to answer the research questions while t-test statistics was employed to test the null hypotheses at q:05 level of significance. It was found that the national technological education policy framework was inoperative and therefore quatitative and qualitative workforce at all levels and cadres cannot be produced. Governmental policy strategies on technology including strategic industries, materials processing and key industries have not been established, or belated or non-functional if done. The economy is almost totally dependent on imports of all classes Of manufacture amongst other constraints.
