Use Bio-Economy To Boost Economy, Varsity Don Tells FG

A university don, Professor Moses Efuntoye, has called on the federal government to seize the opportunity of the ongoing economic hardship to unlock the inherent economic potential that will make Nigeria produce and consume exactly, what her citizens want.

With specific reference to the nation’s health and food security, Efuntoye advocated the setting up of a consortium of researchers drawn from all the nation’s universities to commence meaningful collaborative research towards finding solutions to the socioeconomic, political, technological, food and health issues.

Efuntoye, a professor of microbiology, made that call yesterday when he delivered the 116th inaugural lecture of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.

In the lecture titled: “The Triad of Toughness, Tenacity and Tameness in the Tale of Antibiotic Resistance”, the erudite microbiologist urged the federal government to adopt the Chinese option and close all her borders to the world, impress it seriously on citizens to begin to look inward and use local contents to innovatively address the pressing needs of the over 200 million Nigerians.

He also advocated that all the non-conventional universities such as Federal Universities of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Federal Universities of Technology among others, be given research mandates towards finding answers to critical issues facing the country and which must be fulfilled within a regulated time frame.

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He emphatically recommended that funds for such research mandates should be drawn from TETFund in such a manner that is devoid of any governmental bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Speaking to the health issues of the citizenry, Efuntoye expressed concern over the economic burden of antimicrobial resistance at the national and global levels, stressing that such has reduced productivity due to illness and even death which may arise after treatment failure, the war against antibiotic resistance is one that may never be won.