A Professor of English and Pragmatics in Communication, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Prof. Ibiere Ken- Maduako, has called on the Federal Government to provide adequate funds for universities, in order to improve research, teaching and training of post-graduate students in the various Nigerian universities.
Speaking with newsmen recently in Port Harcourt on research and poor funding in Nigerian universities by government, Ken-Maduako said this would encourage students’ academic performance and maximum output for the socio-economic development of the country.
She suggested that each university should have a post-graduate fellowship scheme in order to attract brilliant post-graduate students.
According to her, “Presently, most registered Ph.D and Masters students are allowed to cater for themselves.
“This does not augur well for productive research as some of these post-graduate candidates would not put their mind fully into research”.
The don said there is need for a change in the way Nigeria handles research, added that research should be seen as a precursor for development.
She said: “In order to get good input in research, the inputs must be outstanding. It is important to note that good research practice requires adequate funding and access to state of the art facilities, qualitative supervision and training of both undergraduate and postgraduate students; openness including interaction with industries and timely dissemination of results, excellent Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) best practices in research laboratories, high quality outputs and good publications in high impact factor journals that enjoy patronage from researchers in leading laboratories worldwide”.
Prof Ken-Maduako, who is to the Sub-Dean, Faculty of Humanities, IAUE, also said the Federal Government should establish key research laboratories in each geo-political zone, where,she advanced and state-of-the-art equipment would be available for the use of scientists and other disciplines in cutting edge research, in order to create the required positive impact.
She also said government should grant procurement waivers to Nigerian universities and research institutes for timely, quality and cost-effective procurement of research facilities.
She added that researchers should be able to order for their research needs directly from the manufacturers, on-line, right from their laboratories and offices, without passing through the bureaucratic bottleneck of government.
The erudite scholar also stated that government, through the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Federal Ministry of Education, should, as a matter of policy, institute a rewarding process for motivating productive researchers and academics who are able to publish in NUC accredited top international research journals in various disciplines as well as those who are able to successfully supervise candidates on the master’s and PhD programmes.

Bethel Toby