Taking advantage of research findings

A lecturer at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Professor Samuel Oluwalana, has said that Nigeria is losing a huge amount of money because it has failed to export human faeces, cockroaches, as well as scorpions to foreign countries. He made the remark while speaking at the 47th Annual General Meeting of the Abeokuta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The lecturer further noted that Nigeria had not taken advantage of indigenous knowledge, especially relating to some of the uses of forest and animal resources for health, commerce and wealth creation. He wondered why Nigeria, which is enormously blessed with vast forest resources, should be grappling with apocalyptic poverty and health challenges when the products from research into indigenous knowledge could help to address diverse diseases such as cancer, diabetes, bile, hypertension, ovarian cysts, blocked fallopian tubes, infertility and fibroids. These health conditions could be addressed using plants and animal resources from the nation’s enormous forest belts.

We think that Nigerian policymakers are too detached from indigenous research establishments and thus have failed to utilise the research outputs from the universities and other research institutions in several domains. The situation is not confined to research and indigenous knowledge relating to forest resources alone. This has led to poor policymaking and underutilisation of knowledge both in government and industry. Nigeria has not embraced the evidence-based decision-making revolution that characterises the global knowledge economy. Nigeria must join this evidence-based approach to issues and address the numerous challenges faced by government and industry.

Globally, the evidence-informed policymaking movement has put the need to link town and gown as a major step in ensuring that scientific research is put into use to transform society. Some countries have supported and promoted the activities of knowledge brokers who develop relationships and networks with, among, and between producers and users of knowledge. They facilitate knowledge flow and exchange through knowledge networks. Knowledge brokers drive innovation, better decision making and continuous improvement by identifying, exchanging, sharing and co-producing knowledge across domains and utilising knowledge to its full potential.

Knowledge brokers often work at the interface of research and policy, but can also work amidst research and healthcare, research and business, research and the public. Research must impact society and knowledge should be utilised because it has cultural, social, economic and political values. Nigeria must address the numerous barriers to translating research into practice. The government cannot continue to invest in the universities and numerous research institutions without benefiting from their output. It is unfortunate that many governments across the country often depend on foreign bodies and universities for policy advice. When governments at state and federal levels seek solutions to challenges, they go to the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund and other imperialist foreign development promoting agencies rather than their own knowledge producing bodies for such advice, sometimes with catastrophic results.

The expectation the world over is for the findings of research in the universities and other research institutions to benefit society as they are utilised to further development and provide solutions to a myriad of problems. This necessarily entails the transformation of society with the government taking advantage of research results by adopting the recommendations for development purposes. Unfortunately, the case has been different in Nigeria, where research results are often ignored and not accorded the necessary importance and attention.

The sad situation has resulted in the inability of the country to benefit maximally from research engagements. Little wonder, then, that the government has not demonstrated serious commitment to supporting, encouraging, and financing research and exploiting research results to aid and deliver concrete development initiatives. We call on the government, Nigerian businesses and wealthy individuals to take the lamentation by Professor Samuel Oluwalana very seriously. They should support and promote knowledge brokerage. The huge loss arising from the failure to properly harness research means that the country is not benefiting from the immeasurable riches and fortunes in its forests and other resources. Research results and the innovations they contain must not continue to rot on the bookshelves. They should be exploited to maximum advantage.