Editorial- Don’t subject Research Institutes to ridicule

Research

The deplorable conditions of most research Institutes in Nigeria should be a concern for anybody who may have witnessed what it used to be during the colonial era in the time past. The legacies left behind In the research institutes are almost disappeared in many of these Institutes as a result of paucity of funds.

This funding problem also encourages lobbying for fund, even when the money has been appropriated and which should have been released through the main ministry.  We believe this must not be encouraged for any reason; otherwise, the entire nation will be in for the worst in terms of quality output and productivity.

Funding of research, especially with agricultural related issues, must not be compromised by any iota of lobbying that will relegate the knowledge based statutes of these institutes. If this is allowed to happen then it means we are digging the final grave of the sector and the implication is that it allows corruption to fester while merit takes back seat.

Day by day, the dwindling research funding to agricultural research Institutes is a serious problem to Nigeria as a nation competing with the other countries of the world in global economies,  especially in the face of high import bills with a population of about 200 million that requires improved technology and adequate funding to feed.

In as much as we want to commend the present administration’s increment of capital project funding we find it ridiculous that research funding will be lumped together with capital projects funding to these Institutes even as many of them have not collected up to the 100% of the funds.

If the institutes should continue to have to lobby for funds then it means they are gradually being cowed and their professional independence being gradually, a situation that must be strongly frowned at if we do not want to lose everything in our bid for food security. If we as a nation are truly interested in attaining food security, wealth creation with competitive technologies we must allow these Institutes to make their requisition based on mandate needs with demand driven specifications, and not by lobbying that will make them unable to give their informed opinion for the fear of being victimized through non-allocation releases.