Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos
Not less than N142.2 million has been disbursed by the Lagos State Government to universities in Nigeria for research purposes.
Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pension, Florence Oguntuase made the revelation at the first Exhibition of the Lagos State Research and Development Grants, LRDG, Projects organised by the Lagos State Research Development Council, LRDC in Lagos
According to her, out of N142.2 million approved for research by Governor Babatunde Fashola, N126.2 million has been disbursed to the benefitting tertiary institutions, adding that the balance of N14.2 million would be disbursed after the exhibition.
The benefiting universities are Lagos State University, LASU; University of Lagos, UNILAG; Pan African University, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State; Caleb University; Yaba College of Technology and African Languages Technology Initiatives.
The commissioner said exhibitions were carried out in 31 project areas. Speaking at the event, Fashola said Lagos has demonstrated that through research and development, it could harness home grown innovative ideas whose implementation would forge the state closer to the achievement of the State Development Plan 2012-2025.
Speaking through his deputy, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire , the governor said the exhibition focused on researches in manufacturing, environmental sciences, media, culture and creative industries, health care delivery, educational needs as well as power/energy, among others.
Chairman, LRDC, Prof. Olufemi Bamiro said the state government set up the council in 2012 with the sole aim of looking into the Lagos State Development Plan 2012-2025 by engaging in research that would bring it to fruition.
He stated that there was no way Lagos could achieve its developmental plan without research, saying that the council came out with research in key areas, such as health, education and others
“We advertise for proposals and about 80 to 90 research proposals were received out of which 31 were approved. The results of what you are seeing today are efforts of researchers working for five months,” he said.
He called on the state government to ensure continuation of research by giving out more research grants to aid research, saying that the quality of research carried out by the researchers was unrivalled anywhere in the country.
Prof. Oke Bukola, Executive Secretary, Nigeria University Commission, NUC, disclosed that about 300 researchers working in 31 teams undertook the research, while commending the Lagos State Government for funding the research.
He, however, called on the government to provide more money for research. Bukola urged the researchers to come up with position papers on researches to be distributed to various government’s ministries for policy formulation and future development.
