The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign into law the National Research and Innovation Council Bill, saying the bill will aid industrial and innovation take-off in the country.
He said, “The eighth National Assembly is commended for following up on the inauguration with the passage of the NRIC bill. We also wish to appreciate the organised labour as well as members of the Technical Palliative Committee who recommended the establishment of tax fund for funding research.
“We therefore appeal to President Buhari to give his assent to the bill, appoint functionaries and saddle them with the responsibility to continue to relate with NASS for further amendments to improve on the NRIC.”
Ndubuaku noted that Nigeria devoted almost zero budgetary allocation to research, stressing that in over 150 research and development institutions and centres, research and training activities were self funded by researchers because of their need to acquire higher academic certificates for promotion at work. According to him, the bill when signed into law would guarantee funding mechanism for research institutions.
“Nigerian career researchers are the poorest cadre of public servants because they must devote over half of their salaries for research if they must advance in their profession. The NRIC Bill provides for the institutional research and training funding mechanism and infrastructural development for research and development institutions in Nigeria,” he added.
Source: Punch
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