(Picture:Professor Adebiyi Daramola, Vice-Chancellor , Federal University of Technology ,Akure)
The Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) has hit another milestone in its quest to distinguish itself and consolidate its national and global relevance as it has been selected to participate in the United Nations Zero-Gravity Instrument Project, ZGIP. A statement by Takao Doi,the United Nations expert on Space Applications in its Outer Space Affairs Office indicated that Dr. Daniel Juwon Arotupin, one of FUTA’s leading Microbiologists and an Associate Professor would be the lead participant in the Zero-Gravity Instrument Project (ZGIP) of the UN-HSTI to be domiciled in Akure.Takao routed the letter announcing the selection of FUTA through the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Nations in Vienna which thereafter contacted the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja which notified the Federal Ministry of Education which conveyed the good news to Professor Adebiyi Daramola, FUTA Vice Chancellor.
Takao in his letter said the selection of FUTA would come with a grant of anon-commercial donation of a micro-gravity simulation instrument called Clinostat alongside other supplementary items to enable Arotupin perform proposed scientific educational and related activities under the aegis of theUN office of Outer Space Affairs.
Professor Adebiyi Daramola has formally congratulated the recipient on his solo representation of Nigeria on the project team and by extension the attraction of a huge donation relevant to scientific educational activities for the University. He said from Dr Arotupin’s antecedent the United Nations and its affiliated agency have found a tested academic to drive the important research project.
According to information from the programme coordinators,“The “Zero-Gravity Instrument Project” (ZGIP) was initiated in 2012as part of the Human Space Technology Initiative (HSTI)’s capacity-building activities, in which a fixed number of microgravity-simulating instruments, called Clinostats, have been distributed to selected schools and institutions worldwide. The major objectives of the project are to provide unique opportunities for students and researchers to observe natural phenomena of samples under simulated microgravity conditions on the ground, and to inspire them to undertake further study in the field of space science and technology.The project is also aimed at creating datasets of plant species with their gravity response, which would contribute to design future space experiments,and to the advancement of microgravity research”.
