10 UniAbuja researchers win N1bn grant as VC says govt alone can’t fund varsities

University of Abuja has honoured 10 researchers and 20 authors from the university for winning grants of over N1 billion and publishing on first class journals across the world.

Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, speaking at the presentation of medals to the researchers and authors at the university’s main campus in Abuja said the move would encourage other scholars of the institution to seek and win more scholarly grants across the world.

He noted that the goverment and indeed proprietors could not fund their universities alone as is obtainable in Nigeria.

Funding has been a major challenge in the Nigerian university system and a basis for frequent strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other staff unions in tertiary institutions in the country.

But Na’Allah said: “They are getting it wrong. University is universality. There is nowhere in the world where the proprietor alone sponsor their universities. That is not happening, most best universities in the world, Cambridge, Harvard and so on, are a joint responsibility.

“Goverment will do its own, proprietors will do their own, different organisations will do their own, and industries do a lot. At the University of Abuja, we are going to mobilize this fund from everywhere in the world,” he said.

The VC explained that the researchers were able to attract the funds through their various works which is aimed at proffering solutions to societal challenges.

“We are so excited this year 2021 with all our researchers getting grants from all over the world, doing research in different areas, resolving problems for Nigeria, for humanity, bringing new products, working with industries and I am so happy that this 1.1 billion naira was realized by the University of Abuja researchers and most of the money came from Europe.

“What we have done is to give them medals, to tell them the University of Abuja is proud of them, Nigeria, the world and indeed humanity is proud of them because their research is in various areas such as hypertension, salt consumption, cultural matters, and different areas of human endeavour.

“It is also an indication that the University of Abuja has come to lead Nigeria, we are telling our scholars that we must set an example as a University that others must see us as the model university to copy.

“We want to lead, we want to show that academic is not just about teaching and going home, but research is also fundamental to the university, resolving problems for the society is fundamental.

“We are having security challenges today, universities should be at the forefront in leading and we at the University of Abuja are doing that so today is for researchers and authors,” he said.

The Director of the Centre for Sponsored Project, University of Abuja, Professor Obiageli Nnodu, said the university had organized a series of workshops for scholars and researchers to empower them to carry out critical research and win more grants both locally and internationally.

“It is the vision of the vice-chancellor to take research to a new level; he established the University Research Council and this council is made up of eminent representatives from each faculty.

“He set up the accounting, transparency and accessibility system to make sure that scholars get grants and they execute the work with all the administrative support they require.

“So the Centre for Sponsored Projects has come up with policies and checklists and all necessary policy documents to undergo quality research. Last year 37 persons applied for the national research fund, this year we had major grantsmanship in August in which we brought 12 leaders across the nation to mentor and teach the rudiments of what it takes to write successful grants.

“People are inspired, they can see what they can adjust, focus and fine-tune their proposals to be able to win more grants and they are working more, they are publishing more,” Nnodu said.

Two of the medal recipients, Dr Godwin Akaba, said his area of research is on maternal and prenatal health towards improving the quality of life of women and newborns and preventing the death of mothers and newborns in lower-middle-income countries like Nigeria, while Professor Kalu Dike Ojji said his focus is on hypertension, hypertensive heart failure with interest in developing the best way to treat heart failure in blacks especially those residing in Africa.

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10 UniAbuja researchers win N1bn grant | 10 UniAbuja researchers win N1bn grant | 10 UniAbuja researchers win N1bn grant