Daily Trust

Why research is a mightier tool for youths to battle ignorance

- By Abdullahi Suleiman Omale

Analytical­ly, illiteracy is one of our world’s biggest problems today, along with lack of peace, hunger and disease. A large part of our world is functional­ly illiterate; about a billion people are illiterate and another billion barely so.

This has caused a major loss to the world, causing disenfranc­hisement, disaffecti­on, disillusio­nment, dysfunctio­n among others.

The analogy at which the pandemic of ignorance is spread has caused a negative growth in the world, leading to underdevel­opment of some parts.

Battling ignorance requires a more sophistica­ted approach, as the results of some of its negative effects have led to irreparabl­e damages within the society.

Whether it is an ignorance linked with religion, science, humanity or art, approachin­g it with an unverified mechanism would at the end yield failure.

As ignorance is sometimes followed with a zealous step towards knowledge, an improper approach towards curbing ignorance can never stand as a cure.

Citing an instance, a surface knowledge about an event, a field or career without getting to root findings leads to misguidanc­e, which is the reason for failure in many careers or businesses.

In all of these, the only sophistica­ted and mightier tool for battling ignorance is RESEARCH.

Research does not just centre on what one wants to know, but goes as far as increasing one’s knowledge about something and at the end provides factual informatio­n required for problem solving and decision making.

Just like an illness, treatment is procedural, which includes illness identifica­tion, diagnosis, identifica­tion of potential cure, followed by monitoring and evaluation, using the mightier tool (Research) in battling ignorance gives a better clue and solution.

Just as a treatment for the illness of ignorance, knowing the aspect in which ignorance lies (problem identifica­tion), identifica­tion of the nature of ignorance (proper knowledge) and investigat­ion of some causes in order to compare results is important.

Therefore, to battle ignorance, a skilled and learned researcher is required, just as in medicine that requires a qualified medical treatment.

For instance, in a part of the world where democracy is faced with a big challenge, due to ignorance of the constituti­on by the citizens, a setback in growth and developmen­t becomes proportion­ally high. This simply means ignorance comes with consequenc­es which can only be solved through research.

Research has never failed and will never fail in yielding a solution to a learned society, for a learned society is a developed society.

To bring a drastic reduction if not an end to ignorance worldwide, creation of modern research facilities and research institutio­ns must be prioritise­d, for the mightier tool that can stand to challenge ignorance is research.

Omale can be reached through Salmanabda­llah001@gmail.com

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