Don Advocates Funding Of Research Works

Professor of Fine Arts and Artistry, Prof Clifford Nwanna, has said that adequate funding of research works and universities would address the country’s technology challenges.
Nwanna, a lecturer in the Faculty of Environmental Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, stated this in an interview with  newsmen recently in Awka.
He said that thought he did not know the amount of money the Federal Government spends on tertiary education, he was sure that a huge sum was being sunk into the system.
He said that it was regrettable that in spite of the huge amount, scholars were not having access to it to fund internal conferences and research works which could change the country’s fortune.
Nwanna said if tertiary education system got the requisite funding, it would produce results that would drive the desired technological advancement that would put the country’s economy on the right footing.
“I do not know the exact amount government spends on research in higher institutions, but what I know is that they spend a lot through TETfund.
“When we apply for fund to advance our work, we do not get it, the universities blame it on TETfund which do not process the application on time,” he said.
Priority should be given to science related researches because of its expensive nature.
He urged government and manufacturing industry to patronize universities and other tertiary institutions in the country with funding.
According, to him such institutions have the capacities to proffer solutions to the country’s development challenges.
“The government and industries should see our universities as research centres and centres of excellence, where the society is shaped and modeled.
“A nation is rated according to the quality of its university, when the universities are in top shape, the nation is in top shape.
“With adequate funding, we will be able to provide alternative solutions to the challenges of our country, especially energy which is larley dependent on hydro but has a plethora of alternatives that still lies undeveloped, he said.
He added that though there was much emphasis on sciences, this should not be to the detriment of the arts because they depended on each other.