Even as the Federal Government is intensifying effort to stop food import into the country, the United Kingdom and the European Union said, yesterday, that the country was yet to access their 150 000 pounds (N35, 250,000) and 3 million Euros (N654, 000, 000) grants meant to support research fundings mainly in soil science to boost food production in the country.
A representative of Aberystwyth University in the UK, Prof. Luis Mur, who disclosed this at a research links workshop in Abuja expressed worry over the failure of Nigerian universities to access the research grants, which he said is capable of lifting the nation from an import dependent to an exporting nation.
According to Prof. Mur, there had been a missing link in connecting the nation’s research finding and the real sector of the economy but noted that the British Council had commenced plans to connect researches of both local and international Universities to drive a knowledge based economy.
It will be recalled that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, recently complained that about 70 percent of its fund remain unaccessed by nation’s universities, even as scarcity of research persists within the nation’s higher education.
Recent statistics had it that Nigeria currently spends N415.3bn on food importation. The project director at British Council, Anthony Chukwuma, at the research links workshops in Abuja said, “Bringing researchers across the globe contributes to the growth of global knowledge economy.
The researches basically are drawn from different parts of the world around and sharing topics on ‘future proofing Agricultural production against environmental change. What we seek to advance is networking of both local and international universities together on driving a knowledge based economy through research and Development.”
Soil science which is the study of soil as a natural resource including soil formation, classification and mapping, physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soil, is an area experts believe could fast track Nigeria’s food sufficiency target of Nigeria as the whole world faces climate change threat. (Vanguard)