Researchers protest inadequate funding

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) on Friday took to the streets in Abuja to show their grievances over poor funding of the nation’s research institutes by successive governments. The vice president of ASURI, Dr. Nnamdi Onunka, and its general secretary, Dr. Theophilus Ndubuaku, who led the protest held at Unity […]

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) on Friday took to the streets in Abuja to show their grievances over poor funding of the nation’s research institutes by successive governments.
The vice president of ASURI, Dr. Nnamdi Onunka, and its general secretary, Dr. Theophilus Ndubuaku, who led the protest held at Unity Fountain Square in Abuja, said that the protest was staged to draw the attention of the government on the urgent need for improved funding of research institutes and Colleges of Agriculture and Forestry in the country.
They therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly for the immediate review of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Act 2011.
Such review, according to them, would extend the scope of distribution of funds to research institutes and colleges in order to avert economic collapse of the country.
Onunka said, "On the basis of the change mantra of the present administration, there have been high expectations that the government will pump money into research, even if it means borrowing money from any willing lender, but the 2016 budget proposal revealed that the expectations may be unfounded after all."
He stated that while ASURI acknowledged that technologies are generated in Nigerian universities through research, the union considered it ridiculous that TETFUND does not extend research funding to Nigeria research institutions, even when it was not debatable that more technologies are generated in research institutes.
"We implore President Buhari, members of the National Assembly, wealthy Nigerians and vibrant Nigerian press to do what is needful to put Nigeria to work by paying inevitable attention to research institutes and their colleges.
"All lovers of Nigeria should support the immediate review of the TETFUND Acts to extend the scope of distribution of the overflowing fund. The government should secure the political will to confront any opposition and do what is fair, just and exigent regarding research funding which is a sine qua non to averting the economic collapse of Nigeria."
Some of the protesters expressed their grievances through placards with inscriptions such as:  ‘Do what is needful by paying attention to Research Institutes’, ‘No Budget for Research Which Way Nigeria?’
Others were ‘Zero budget for Research in 2016 is Death Sentence on Nigeria development.’