A Professor of Agricultural Economics and former deputy vice-chancellor (academics), Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Simeon Bamire, has decried Nigeria’s low level of investment in Research and Development.
Bamire was the guest lecturer at the Founder’s Day celebration of the Precious Cornerstone University, Ibadan, on Thursday.
Speaking on the topic ‘Enhancing Quality of University Education through Research and ICT Skill Acquisition in Nigeria’, Professor Bamire lamented that Nigeria trails most other countries (even in Africa) in R&D expenditure.
Bamire noted that developed nations such as the United States of America, China, Japan, Germany and South Korea invest between 2 and 5 percent of their annual GDP in R&D.
He listed nations with substantial annual investment in R&D to include: Israel (4.94%), South Korea (4.81%), Japan (3.28), Germany (3.13%), USA (2.83%), and China (2.18%).
Among developing nations, Bamire said Brazil invests 1.16% of annual GDP, Malaysia (1.04%); India 0.65%.
Sadly, he noted, even in Africa, Nigeria, with an annual investment of 0.22% of GDP in R&D trails countries like Senegal and Mali which invest 0.58 and 0.29% respectively.
According to Bamire, adequate funding of R&D will not only have telling positive effects on the quality of teaching and learning in schools, it will also, among other things, help build national technological capability and drive economic growth.
The guest lecturer also advised universities to “deliberately” commit funds and resources to research-based activities, embark on training and retraining of faculty members in the acquisition of ICT skills and the writing of research proposals.
In his opening address, the vice-chancellor of the Precious Cornerstone University, Professor Julius Oloke, noted that the National Universities Commission, after resource verification visit to the university, recently approved five new courses for the PCU.
These he listed as BSc Mass Communication, BSc Cyber Security, BSc International Relations, BSc Procurement Management and BSc Software Engineering.
He also congratulated two distinguished Nigerians who were conferred with the university’s award: Hon Philemon Adeniran, a former member of the House of Representatives; and Professor Kayode Adebowale, vice-chancellor, University of Ibadan.
The high point of the event was the conferment of the award on Professor Adebowale and Hon Adeniran.
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