Labour seeks quick passage of research bill

ACADEMIC Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) has stormed the National Assembly (NASS) to agitate for quick passage of the National Research and Innovation Fund bill.

The union carried placards with inscriptions such as ‘Universities are saturate with Tetfund while colleges of agriculture are dying;’ ‘FG, stop recession by funding research, tomorrow is too late!;’ ‘National Assembly should pass the National Research and Innovation Bill 2016 and Agricultural Research Council Amendment Bill 2016; amongst others.

Secretary General of ASURI, Dr Theo Ndubuaku, during the protest in Abuja, said the bill, when passed, would ensure adequate funding of researches and innovations.

He said it became imperative to prioritise research in the country stressing that the protest was meant to call on the National Assembly to give the bill a speedy consideration.

“The protest is geared towards appreciating the Buhari government and the National Assembly for taking that step. But you know if something has been on the drawing board for thirty years if you don’t keep wailing it can go under again.

“If this government decides to fund research the way research is funded, within six months Nigeria will start changing.

“The National Assembly should pass the National Research and Innovation fund Bill, but we don’t want the universities people to hijack it.

“Why we are here today is to ensure that this same funding is not hijacked by the universities again to add to what they have because they have Tetfund lying fallow.

“We are seeing signs that they want to hijack research fund. That is why we are asking the National Assembly to make sure that the bill specified what it is meant for otherwise it would end up being hijacked or even suppressed.

“The bill has passed the second reading and there has been a public hearing; But when we looked at the bill, we found out that they had not really come out to identify the problems that make research institutes to be starved of funds.

“You can imagine Tetfund was created so many years ago and they exclude research institutions, now how do you go and fund basic research and leave applied research” Ndubuaku lamented.

He stressed further that, “all we have attempted to show is the fact that research institutes have not been given their proper place. This bill when enacted will put an end to the glaring lack of a strong and consistent willingness to provide the needed financial resources for research activities.”

Ndubuaku therefore called for the review of Tetfund Act to extend the scope of distribution of fund to research institutes.