University of Ibadan

An Israeli Professor of Invertebrate Endocrinologist with a leaning to Aquaculture at the Department of Life Sciences and the Institute of Biotechnology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, Amir Sagi today urged the Nigerian government to invest heavily on higher education because development could only come through technology.

The scholar disclosed while fielding questions from journalists after presenting a paper at the 2016 Seminar Series of the Department of Zoology, University of Ibadan which was held at the department’s Lecture Theatre.

Sagi, who presented a paper with the title “RNAi Based Biotechnology to Establish All-Male Prawn Populations: Implications for Aquaculture and Biocontrol of Schistosomiasis” said that the importance of technology had caught the attention of every decision-making ?organ across the globe and Nigeria could not be an exception.

Dwelling on the import of the paper presented, the don described the lecture as part of the collaborative effort between his university and UIU on how to employ technology for the benefit of human being in the field of aquaculture.

He explained that Nigeria stood a very good chance of benefitting from the initiative because of the economic potential derivable from the aquaculture business which had been globally acknowledged.

The Principal Collaborator in the project and a lecturer in the Department of Zoology, UI, Dr. Aina Adeogun, who during a chat with journalists after the lecture lamented what she called ‘Nigeria’s lack of interest in research’ maintained that except through personal or collaborative efforts, Nigeria researchers would be redundant because of non-availability of fund.

She said, “Nigeria is not serious about research. Most of the researches carried out are sponsored from outside the country which should not be so. We employ personal efforts and collaboration with foreign institutions, agencies and other bodies to carry out our researches in the country despite the abundance of research potentials available in the land”, she disclosed further”.

Adeogun explained that a research finding might take as long as 20 years before it could become relevant and enjoined the government to show understanding and give research its appropriate place in the scheme of things in the country to avoid its relegation among the comity of nations.

Lauding the current war against corruption in the country, the female lecturer lamented what she described as mind-boggling revelations being made by the Federal Government of how money was looted in the country and insisted that unless the hydra-headed problem is tackled, development would remain elusive in the country.

According to her, “corruption is our major problem in the country. The rate at which people looted the treasury remains amazing. People should have conscience and think of the future of the coming generation. There must be a conscious effort on the part of everybody to ensure that things are done rightly. Wherever we may find ourselves, we must be conscious of the fact that whatever we do now will either promote or demote those coming behind. Where there is a vote for research fund, it should be made available for the purpose for which it is voted for. It is a form of corruption to deploy research fund into sundry matters like traveling and other mundane things that cannot bring about development”.