By Chris Udochukwu
The Secretary General of Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku has given clue as to why the Union and over thirty Civil Society Organidatuons are persistent in the struggle for the passage of the National Research and Innovation Council Bill 2022.
According to him, the reason why they have been persistent for the Council to be established is because in the past they have had about six to seven attempts through the past National Assembly to get TETFUND Act to be amended so that they can accommodate Research Institutions but everyone that there have been such an attempt, what we find out is that TETFUND itself and ASUU will come and raise serious objection. They will tell us that TETFUND is their baby for education that we should go and package our own funding mechanism. So based on that, we now had to key into Research and Innovation Council Bill which is a component of Natuonal Policy and Technology.
The ASURI Scribe stated this on Thursday during a strategic meeting of the ASURI/Civil Society Coalition/Campaign for research funding and strategies for National Transformation held at NASSI Secretariat, WAEC Building, Maitama Abuja.
Prof Ndubuaku who recounted that the agitation for the adequate funding of research has been on for some time, reminded that the bill has been passed twice but it was not assented to. He expressed worry over the withholding of assent by the President because the president is the Chairman of the Council by the provisions of the policy.
He said: “though the president inaugurated the Council during the first quarter into his first tenure upon assumption office in 2015, since then he has been holding the meeting with the ministers but nothing is coming out from the meeting because major thing in that policy is the establishment of that Council to be able to coordinate and provide funding mechanism for research activities. This he said is why they are persistent that the NRIC Bill should be passed.
He said predicated on this, in this 9th Assembly, they formed the Coalition and then wrote a letter to all the National Assembly members, ministers, Perm Secs in the ministry and that prompted the president to us to tell us that we should represent the bill. So we have been on it and it has passed first and second reading and then public hearing and then we are waiting for Senate to pass it. That is why we are briefing the Civil Society Organisations that this is where we are and we need them to come together again and endorse a letter to the presidency of the bill is passed by the Senate and House of Representatives.
The Secretary General therefore called on the federal government to ensure the funding of research through the establishment of the NRIC Bill that will take charge of funding and coordination of research so that this country can move forward and these vices bedeviling the nation will disappear into thin air.
Prof Ndubuaku who linked the spate of insecurity in the country today to unemployment and underdevelopment, stressed that without research, which is key to the development of any nation, Nigeria will continue to go down.
