The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) has appealed to the Federal Government to devote part of the monetary donations it is receiving towards combatting the coronavirus pandemic to funding health-related research.
ASURI is the umbrella body representing the interests of researchers in all federal research institutions, agencies and allied institutions.
In a memorandum addressed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, the union urged the government to commit at least 20 per cent of all monetary receipts from home and abroad towards funding the nation’s research institutes whose mandates relate to medical, pharmaceutical and herbal research.
The five-page document titled: “Memorandum to the Federal Government on the Coronavirus Pandemic,” was signed by the union’s secretary general, Dr. Theophilus Ndubuaku.
It read: “We propose (therefore) that the Federal Government devotes a minimum of 20 per cent of total monetary donations and support it is receiving towards finding solution to the pandemic to the funding of research by all the nation’s research institutes whose mandate relate to medical, pharmaceutical and herbal research.
“Anything short of this would amount to putting all the fingers in one’s mouth without saving for the raining days in terms of adequate preparation even though it is not our prayer, because after Covid-19, there will be another disease.”
ASURI further noted that while in other parts of the world, researchers and scientists were at the fore in the search for an end to the pandemic, “it is only politicians and political administrators who are being heard in Nigeria,”adding that the official relegation of the mandate research institutes is an ill wind that will blow the nation no good.
The memorandum identified five Nigerian research institutes which should be relevant in the present global emergency, noting however that they are sidelined.
“We are only reading about meaningful research on coronavirus in foreign countries even though we have capable hands in the four research institutes in Nigeria whose mandates relate to medical research, namely: National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), National Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research (NITR) and Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA). The same goes for the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), which has Bioresources Development Centres (BIODEC) in about 30 states.
It added: “It is worthy of note that one of Nigeria’s mandate research institutes, the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), which has the capacity to bail us out, had been conducting studies on coronavirus even before its outbreak. Besides, NIMR had a couple of its own corona test kits acquired through collaborative efforts with foreign donors while the government was still scrambling to put things together.
READ ALSO: How Varsities Can Assist Our Administration -Buhari
“Ironically, we are aware that recently in Lagos, NCDC rejected the test results from NIMR presented by a coronavirus case and insisted on their own test, resulting in delay in admitting the patient who consequently infected his wife at home. This scenario highlights the level of disconnect between the Nigerian government functionaries and mandate research institutions.”
Condemning what it describes as the “continuous sidelining of relevant Nigerian research institutes by the Federal Government functionaries in the global battle to save human lives from the invisible Covid-19 enemy,” ASURI, reiterated the havoc done to the nation’s economy through prolonged neglect of the research sector.
“The abject neglect of the nation’s Research and Development Institutes (RDIs) sector by successive administrations has brought upon the nation the myriad of social-economic problems as high unemployment rate, mass poverty and hunger, resulting in insecurity, insurgency, assassinations, ritual killings, cybercrime, kidnapping, prostitution, human trafficking and slavery, emigration, maternal and child mortality and life expectancy of 54.5 years (lowest in West Africa),” ASURI said.
According to the union’s scribe, Nigeria operates close to zero budgetary allocation to research. “In most of the over 150 Nigerian Research and Development Institutions (RDIs) and centres, research and training activities are self-funded by researchers because they must acquire higher degrees and produce research publications before they can be promoted at every stage of their careers,” Dr. Ndubuaku stated, adding: “Consequently
Nigerian career researchers are the poorest cadre of public servants as they must devote over half of their salaries for research if they must advance in their profession.”
Meanwhile, the Union commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his understanding of the “imperative, urgency and commitment to technological revolution in Nigeria” but blamed the delay in getting Presidential assent for the National Research and Innovation Council (NRIC) Bill on his aides.
According to ASURI, “there seems to be a lacuna between the zeal of the President and the functionaries in the Presidency that have not been able to march President Buhari’s zeal with appropriate action which has thus far stalled assent to the bill.”
The union noted that Mr. President inaugurated the National Research and Innovation Council on the 6th of January 2016, barely six months after he assumed office on May 29, 2015.
It said: “Following the pronouncement of the President on technological revolution and his body language, ASURI followed up with the National Assembly which thereafter passed the NRIC Bill which was sponsored by Senator David Umaru and co-sponsored by 60 other Senators. The sheer number of sponsors of this Bill underlines its importance. However, the Bill, which was returned to the National Assembly by Mr. President, citing some grey areas, was promptly rectified by the Eighth Assembly before the end of its tenure and re-transmitted to the Villa.”
The NRIC Bill provides for the institutional research and training funding mechanism and infrastructural development for RDIs in Nigeria.
In the memorandum, the union called on the Federal Government to look inwards in finding the cure for coronavirus. Citing the example of China, the union said acupuncture, which it described as the flagship of Chinese healthcare, as well as the Asian country’s successful herbal and mineral supplements, were home-grown initiatives.
To support its recommendation of looking inwards, ASURI reminded the Federal Government of claims by the Ooni of Ife and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.
“Claims by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, that there is herbal treatment for the virus and the publicized claim by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State that he used black seed and honey therapy to reverse his status from positive to negative within six days are being downplayed by government functionaries.
“In spite of claims that there is no proven cure for Covid-19, it is noteworthy that such herbal roots as garlic, ginger and other herbs have, over the years, been used to treat respiratory infections as flu, pneumonia, common cold and influenza. That there is no vaccine yet, for Covid-19 does not stop us from testing proven local palliative therapies.
We call on the Federal Government to look inward as the whole world struggles to find a cure for Coronavirus. We have the resources and the human capacity to do so.”