Research for Impact, Knowledge Economy and Sustainable Development (RIKESD), has said that Nigeria can impact its economy by harnessing the potential of research.
The Executive Director and Founder of RIKESD, Dr Mustapha Popoola, while speaking with journalists after the official launch of RIKESD in Abuja, said the event aims to launch RIKESD into the global community of Research Innovation Development and Enterprise (RIDE).
He said they believe that there has been a lot of investment in the different levels of research, from the ones that people do at the end of their degree programs and look at the money that is going to research every year, even from universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, writing a thesis as the end product is not enough.
Popoola said if the money is put together, it will amount to huge money and that the research outcome over the years is translating to something other than economic gain or social gain.
“So, what we are doing differently now is that we are challenging that status quo that the money that is going to research, how are the environment, the economy and the people feeling the impact. The moment we have that, it might be an enabler for government to do more.
“If you look at our foreign policy as at today, part of what you will see is that we have military attaché at our embassies and we are talking about development but we don’t have research and development and innovation attaché in our embassies, so how are we going to harness our research outcome, solutions and technologies from other countries that can benefit us.
“Ultimately, we see the space for research and development as international and global in scope. RIKESD is looking at driving foreign direct investment in terms of research funding back to this country. When we have our organisations that are set out to do the research the way it is supposed to be done and they can show impact, a lot of international funders will now be interested in us.
“It means that when you have international grants that have to be for research, it will come in the currency of that country, so when you are talking about limited dollar and we could have an institution that can attract millions of dollars in grants, the definitely, all these forex issues can actually be solved”, he explained.
The Chairman Board of Finance Trustees, Professor Elias Bogoro in his submission, underscored the importance of food security and why Nigeria needs to utilise the benefits of research and innovations.
“For Nigeria, have you noticed that one of the two areas that Mr President declared state of emergency are national security and food security, and that tells you the importance of food security. Unfortunately, the national insecurity has so badly affected food production and very sadly retarded, destabilized the process of ensuring that Nigeria gets food self-sufficiency but more importantly, food security”, Professor Bogoro said.
Also, the Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Leena Pylvanainen said the Embassy endorsed the objective of the initiative.
“We are a country of innovation; Finland is constantly ranked as one of the most innovative in Europe and globally. So we fully appreciate what today is about, making innovations impactful for sustainable development.
“Education, research and innovation has been the recipe for making Finland the king of country that it is today, from making us from of the poorest countries in Europe to one of the richest in the span of 50 years. We do understand where this initiative is coming from and we wholeheartedly endorse its objectives”, she said.
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