Staffs recruitment killing research

research

·       NAERLS boss speaks

The challenges in the research system in Nigeria may have added another feather from the usual lack of fund to recruitment priority given to administrative and accounting staffs over scientists and agricultural superintendents that are core to ensuring availability of improved technologies for best global practices.

Food Farm News finding revealed that core staffs in many of the agricultural research institutes in the country are day by day reducing due to retirement and other economic factors without adequate replacement as more of the new intakes in these Institutes are more of administrative and accounting workers rather than core needed scientists and agricultural superintendents.

 Although one source told us that this may not totally applied to agricultural research Institutes under the Universities, but pointed many others under the ministry may have been facing this challenge as disciplines that are not core science are even employed to play the role of scientists and researchers..

 It was revealed that core scientists that are dwindling in most of the Nigerian agricultural research Institutes are breeders, pathologists, soil scientists, social economists and agricultural field attendants as employment taking place was not in commensuration with these core staffs who are to ensure smooth operation of research, extension and production activities.

Our source pointed that a thorough auditing of workers especially in the agricultural research Institutes and colleges especially those that had no direct affiliation with Nigerian universities would reveal the level of all manners of workers that have no direct value to the development of research work activities adding that numbers of administrative and accounting staffs may have outnumbered the core staffs needed in many of the Institutes.

Speaking on the matter, the Executive Director, National Agricultural Extension and Research Linkages Services (NAERLS) Prof. M.K Othman said this position did not totally applied to his Institute saying” we  have a place for all specialists in agriculture with enough man power, and that does not rule out the need for having more man power”

 Prof. Othman added there is about ten staff in each of the offices in the North West as minimum numbers where technologies were collected from all the zones for dissemination. He pointed that NEARLs has over 500 staff with 10 professors, 50 PHD holders, and people with various degrees in all specialization like agronomists, soil scientists, researchers, communicators, scientists and administrative staffs.