Prof. Babajide Alo, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics and Research), University of Lagos, on Saturday called on governments to adequately fund universities to turn Nigeria’s natural resources into economic benefits.
Alo made the call in an interview in Lagos.
“Nigeria is blessed with so much resources: oil, agriculture, land, forest and good climate; we as a people ought to do better in the utilisation of our resources.
“Universities and other research entities in the country should, therefore, be empowered to be able to turn these resources into economic benefits for the well-being of the citizens, communities and the entire nation,’’ he said.
He said that inadequate support for research would hinder potential innovators from playing active roles in economic development.
“That is the essence of the just-concluded brain work, paper presentation and research efforts in our university.
“We, members of academia, came together to seek to know the way forward, after taking stock of where we are coming from, where we are, and where we want to be,” the don said.
University of Lagos recently held its 13th annual Research Conference and Fair which brought together no fewer than 600 participants from 50 universities.
The three-day event had the theme: “Resource Utilisation and Sustainable Development.’’
Alo said that the University of Lagos had recorded a number of innovations and research results that could benefit the economy.
“There are sufficient brain powers to reposition this country but these brain powers need all the support they can get from governments and international partners,’’ he said. (NAN)
