THE DEARTH OF RESEARCHIN NIGERIA A case study of Oyo State
INTRODUCTION Research and development remained the bedrock of any self reliant national economy. Agrarian, Industrial, communication technology, educational revolutions have all been made possible as a result of research and development. This clearly shows the extent in which research and development contributes to an effective transition from one level of development to another. Little wonder then, when President Goodluck Jonathan laments during the 23rd convocation ceremony of Federal university of Technology, Akure in a message read by Professor Julius Okojie, the executive secretary of Nigeria University Commission that the Nigerian universities record poor scores in international ratings because their authorities pay little attention to research. He went further to say that The President noted that the nation needed high quality manpower and impactful research to achieve necessary economic growth and development. He went further to say that, “Our education administrators need to urgently address the importance of research, which is one reason our universities perform poorly in international ratings”. “We must upgrade our curricula to ensure the provision of quality education. Learning at tertiary levels should produce graduates that are self-reliant. The story of research and development is rather pathetic. Despite the Government pledge to improve research and development, it is still at it lowest ebb when compared to other developed and developing countries of India, Japan.
A former Minister of Science and Technology Grace Ekpiwhre in one of her ministerial briefing while in office decried the low level of patronage and non-commercialization of Research and Development (R&D). Her words, "Our major challenge is still the low level of patronage of R& D results. Compendium of these commercializable results has been published to acquaint the public of the
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