Academia Calls For Unity On Technology Transfer For National Development 

TERTIARY institutions across the globe have called for sustainable critical infrastructural systems to be built across the various higher citadels of learning in the country through the use of technology.

This call was made in the 5th Polytechnic Lecture of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic (RUGIPO), Owo on Thursday, with the theme “Building Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Systems: The Role of Higher Education In Technology Transfer” and delivered by Prof. Tobi Ogunro.

Welcoming guests, the Acting Rector of RUGIPO, I. B Ologunagba, said: “The school’ authority source for globally respected egg-heads to deliver the lecture from time to time is aimed at giving the lecture universal outlook since knowledge itself is universal, stressing that for Nigeria to witness growth and development in the real sector of its economy, particular attention has to be consistently paid to the provision and maintenance of infrastructure.”

The Guest Speaker, Ogunro, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of the North Carolina, Charlotte, USA, noted that we are in a society where we do three things as individuals, which include systems, facilities and assets.

These three things he described to be so vital and subdivided into two: natural infrastructure and virtual infrastructure that are man-made, whose destruction or incapacitation would have diverse impacts on all human endeavours.

Ogunro revealed that the neglect of these infrastructures has resulted into underdevelopment, stating that Africa is the fastest growing continent in the world with a kind of growth devoid of development.

Describing the factors militating against sustainable development, he mentioned poor and unstable polity, security problems, economic downturn and debt burdens, and ethnic rivalries.

The Guest lecturer emphasised on capacity building and judicious transfer of proven technologies, saying it is imperative to have a long rather than a short term perspective.

He disclosed that knowledge sharing is the fulcrum on which the development of America turns on, urging Nigeria to emulate such by changing its paradigm and called Nigerians to develop the culture of knowledge sharing and dissemination.

He charged institutions across the nation to discard the prevailing norm of privileged information, which the guest lecturer said is a big constraint against knowledge sharing and information needed to sustain notable development in all sectors of human endeavours.

The don implored Nigerian tertiary institutions to balance the curriculum by effectively taking their students thoroughly through the learning, building, design and testing rounds of engineering rather than the noticeable restriction to learning, which is the bane of the nation’s underdevelopment.

The Vice Chancellor of Achievers University, Owo, Prof. Tunji Ibiyemi, observed that the model of sharing knowledge in Nigeria is defective despite the excellent nature of university curricula.  He thereby urged all the tertiary institutions to employ functional model and balance the theoretical aspects of the curricula with the practical aspects.