A two-day Roundtable on Research Funding for research institutions in Nigeria is billed to come up in Abuja on April 17 and 18.

The event, which is being put together by the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, ASURI, representing the interest of researchers in Federal mandate Research Institutes, Agencies and Allied Colleges in Nigeria, in collaboration with Co-Heritage Hunters Nigeria and TF & Associates as organisers, is a talk shop aimed at mobilising the nation in support of adequate research funding.

According to a statement jointly signed by Theophilus Ndubuaku, the secretary general of ASURI, Bola Oregbemi, the president of Co-Heritage Hunters Nigeria, and Toye Fawole, the managing consultant of TF & and Associates, the event, coming on the heels of the recently-passed National Research and Innovation Council Bill 2018, will take place at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, as an appreciation event to celebrate innovativeness andà beam positive light on the role of research in national development.

With the theme, “Research our Hope,” the two-day event will feature Boss Mustapha, the secretary to the government of the federation, as special guest of honour while Muhammadu Musa Bello, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and Philip Aduda, the minority whip in the Senate, representing FCT in the Senate, are chief host and co-host respectively.

The main speaker at the talk shop is Oye Ibidapo-Obe, eminent scientist and former vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos, also a former president of the National Academy of Science, NAS, while Robert Ajayi Boroffice, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, and David Umaru, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters who sponsored the National Research and Innovation Council Bill 2018, will lead the team of the 60 senators who co-sponsored the Bill and several other federal lawmakers from both chambers to the event.

In attendance as well will be Ogbonaya Onu, the minister of Science and Technology; Audu Ogbe, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; and Chris Nwabueze Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, and many other Ministers who superintend over federal mandate research institutes and agencies.

The event is also expected to feature members of the diplomatic corps, executive directors and chief executive officers, CEOs, of Research Institutes, director-generals, DGs, of federal agencies, captains of industry, opinion leaders and the civil society, among others.

The two-day roundtable will feature over 1,000 researchers while over 100 Nigerian research institutes will showcase their activities at the adjoining exhibition, alongside other exhibitors from both private and public sectors.

– Apr. 3, 2018 @ 13:29 GMT

AE