Don asks FG to tackle food crisis
Prof Moses Efuntoye of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye on Wednesday advised the Federal Government to galvanise the nation’s rich human resources to invent urgent solutions to food, energy, and other challenges confronting the country now.
Nigeria is facing food crisis with prices of major commodities skyrocketing in the last eight months.
Food inflation also hit 32.4% in December 2023, an 8.71% jump from what was recorded in the previous year.
Efuntoye said that this critical time demands the country adopt the China option; close her borders to the world, impress on citizens to begin to look inward, and use local content to innovatively address the mammoth needs.
Efuntoye said this while delivering the 116th inaugural lecture of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye Ogun State, with the theme “The Triad of Toughness, Tenacity and Tameness in the Tale of Antibiotic Resistance.”
The don has called for the setting up of a consortium of researchers drawn from the country’s universities to commence meaningful collaborative research toward finding solutions to the socio-economic, political, technological, food, and health issues.
He said, “At a time in China’s history, the nation closed its doors to the world. Nigeria as a country has very rich resources of intellectual personnel in the sciences, engineering and technology, education, liberal arts, and humanities among others to solve our social, economic, cultural, educational, political, and technological needs.
“We need to close up and engage in meaningful research across all disciplines that will impact our national life based on local contents”.
He also advocated that the nation’s non-conventional universities such as Federal Universities of Agriculture, and Federal Universities of Technology find answers to critical issues facing the country within a specific time frame.
According to him, funds for such research mandates should be drawn from TETFund and should be devoid of government bureaucratic bottlenecks.
