VC decries poor funding of research by successive governments
VICE Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota, Prof Ayandiji Aina has blamed successive governments for the slow pace of the nation’s development attributing this to inadequate funding of research.
Aina who lamented the poor allocation to the sector faulted the attitude of our leaders towards effective funding of the sector. He spoke at a luncheon held in honour of the President, Chatered Institute of Bnkers of Nigeria (CIBM), Dr Uche Olowu at the Sheraton hotel, Ikeja.
“We said education is the bedrock of development, if it is indeed the bedrock of development and government is not funding it, it means we are not having a good foundation as a nation. Nigeria is not known for funding research, our national budget for education has remained around six percent when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recommended about almost triple that percentage.
The vice chancellor subsequently called on government as well as stakeholders, educational institutions and corporate organisations to effectively fund research to aid the nation’s development.
Aina also announced plans by the institution to collaborate with world-class institutions like Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) so as to be globally competitive and relevant.
“The world is no longer a global village, as I would call it, it’s a global parlor; so we are connecting with the best globally. By next month I will be in Havard and MIT for all those relationships, what we are doing with CIBM, ICAN and CITN have something to do with the financial nerve centre of the nation. It is also important for us to connect with global best human development training insti- tutions in the area of global finance. Whatever happens to Nigeria in time of recession has a global implication. By the time we went into recession, Russia and some other countries were also witnessing slow movements, who are the people in training the best human finance capital in the world? MIT and Havard.”
On his part, CIBM president, Dr. Olowu expressed concern over the quality of graduates being churned out in our institutions and stressed the need to address the decadence in the sector. As a way out, Olowu who admitted a huge gap between the town and gown said in addressing the decline, the institute is working with the National Universities Commission (NUC) as well as the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to change the curriculum in order to keep pace with the developmental changes. He commended the management of the institution for bringing experienced people from the outside world into the university to impact on the students.