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‘Research should be problem-focused’

By Charles Coffie Gyamfi, Abeokuta
23 February 2017   |   3:28 am
“This is a knowledge-driven society, without the creation of knowledge, you cannot make it and it is through research that you can create knowledge and good attention should be given to it”

A Professor of Agricultural Engineering at the Federal University of Agriculture, (FUNAAB) Abeokuta, Professor Emmanuel Ajisegiri, has called on researchers in the country to embark on problem-focused researches, as a panacea to solving the myriads of challenges confronting the nation.

Professor Ajisegiri who disclosed this while speaking on his research contributions to the society in Abeokuta decried the existing gap between industries and the nation’s tertiary institutions blaming the negative trend on the attitude of stakeholders to research in the country,.

“I have worked as a research professor for two years in Germany. I know what it means, you also have your place in the industry; it is the problems in the industry that are brought to the university to be solved. When it is solved, it is taken back into the industry”.

The professor of Agricultural Engineering had in Germany worked on determining the optimum temperature, moisture and air velocity for maximum shelf life. He also recorded research feat in 24 other food items including constituted fruits and vegetable salads.

“Let me tell you, it is unfortunate that people do not do meaningful research. They don’t do problem -focused; problem- related research and that is what is supposed to be the essence of research, to solve existing problems, and not just a mere academic exercise towards publications for promotion. There is no handshake between the industries, entrepreneurs and researchers”, he noted.

Ajisegiri, who is also a former South-West Coordinator, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said the way forward is to give research its pride of place.

“This is a knowledge-driven society, without the creation of knowledge, you cannot make it and it is through research that you can create knowledge and good attention should be given to it”, he added.

He further advised the government to fund research adequately, adding that if only one out of 100 research outputs was successful and could solve problems, it was capable of paying off for the other 99 that did not succeed.

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