Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Professor Prince Chinedu Nmon, has challenged scholars to produce quality research for them to be acknowledged globally.
He gave the challenge recently at the third annual symposium organised by the Directorate of Research and Development and Postgraduate School, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE) at the University Auditorium.
Nmon, who was the Special Guest of Honour, expressed his pleasure over the theme of the symposium “Contemporary Issues in Research, Development and Innovation”, saying it was apt.
“Learning and reinforcing what has been learnt, as well as being listed in goggle scholar and other search engines improves the rankings of a University,” he said.
The Commissioner noted the benefits of bridging the gap between “town and gown”, saying that “researches and other scholarly contributions should be geared towards solving societal problems instead of being used solely for the purposes of promotions”.
Prof. Nmon, who emphasized that no meaningful development can be achieved without research, added that “new ideas facilitate growth and progress”.
He lauded IAUE for investing in research, innovations and development, and for living up to expectations by driving research development.
“Universities that are unable to produce quality research outcomes do not stand the chance of being counted as those with real value to the society”, he stated.
While commending participants at the event, he assured that their participation would be worth while and rewarding.
Declaring the symposium open, the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Okechuku Onuchuku, expressed appreciation to the Commissioner and the Executive Secretary, National Council for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Abuja, for sacrificing their time to be at the event.
He hinted that the well packaged and loaded topics on various aspects of research would help postgraduate students to conduct proper research and expose lecturers to the rudiments and technics of writing proposals on research grants.
In his remarks, the Director, Research and Development, Professor Kemka Humphrey Ogbonda, thanked the Vice Chancellor for support given to actualise the training, and stressed the importance for students to be abreast with the nitty gritty of research and how to go about their project defense at various levels.
He expressed hope that the symposium would help reduce the stress that supervisors face when reading students’ work.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo