The governor, who challenged scholars in the country to move beyond earning titles to contributing meaningfully to the development of Nigeria, spoke on Monday during the disbursement of grants to 31 beneficiaries.
The beneficiaries are those whose research proposals have been approved by the Lagos State Research and Development Council.
The governor urged Prof. Maurice Iwu to come up with a lucid proposal on his Bitter Kola theory, adding that the government would be willing to sponsor it.
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| Ebola Virus |
“I am curious about Prof. Maurice Iwu’s research on how Bitter Kola can help cure some diseases. I am challenging him that he should reopen the frontiers of that research and present it to us. It is something that we would be looking at.”
The governor said it was disappointing that when the country was faced with the problem of Ebola, none of the much talked about probable solutions came from Nigeria or Africa. He added that Ebola scourge presented opportunities for researchers and scholars to write their names in the book of history.
“If you look at the last epidemic challenge that we faced, all of the offers and solutions ─ ZMapp and Dan ─ among others, came from outside Africa where the problem is. And we have scientists here who carry all sorts of titles.
“This is the time to earn your titles. All the Ph.D and professors must now live up to their names. There will be no more excuses. I don’t have even masters, I am ordinary. We must know the people that have contributed to the development of our country ─ Not all these awards that are given, all these doctorates that have not really advanced our development,” he said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the state research council, Prof. Olufemi Bamiro, said the grant ranged between N3m and N5m per beneficiary.