The Nation Newspaper

Tag: DON

  • Don: how Nigeria can benefit from intelligent transport system

    Global technological advancement is turning transportation to a money-spinning business. But Nigeria is yet to leverage the innovation to initiate reforms that will transform its transport sector and achieve economic growth, a professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Jaiye Jehoshaphat Dukiya, has said.

    Transportation, Dukiya said, has the potential to generate huge revenue to the government, but he added that lack of integrated transport system and infrastructure deficiency has limited the nation’s chance to grow its economy through the sector.

    In revitalising the national transport system, Prof Dukiya said Nigeria needed technology-coordinated Intelligent Transport System (ITS) adopted by industrialised countries to create new revenue base to grow its economy.

    The don proffered solution to transportation challenges facing the country when he delivered 65th inaugural lecture of the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT MINNA) in Niger State. The lecture, held at Caverton Lecture Theatre in Gidan-Kwano campus, was titled: Leveraging advances in transport development: To where is Nigeria heading?

    Eminent personalities graced the event. The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Abdullahi Bala, led principal officers of the school to the lecture, which was well-attended by staff and students.

    Dukiya said: “ITS is a pointer towards improved urban transport system in the nearest future. Many developed and developing countries that have implemented ITS are already reaping the benefits, which include reduced pollution, congestion, accidents and greater reduction in travel times.

    “The Federal Government, through the relevant ministry and agencies, should consider providing a national inventory of facilities required; construct a blueprint and put in place the relevant infra- and info-structures necessary for effective implementation of this transport programmes in our system. ITS improves safety and mobility by integrating advanced, wireless communications technologies into transportation infrastructure and vehicles.”

    The don explained that the purpose of ITS was to process and share information that could prevent vehicle collision, keep traffic moving and reduce environmental impacts, among others.

    He recalled that the industrial revolution transformed the transport sector in the 18th Century, while pointing out that an efficient road transportation system had the potential to impact positively on the country’s socio-economic life since many commercial activities depended on road transport.

    He observed that rapid development of the automobile industry had aided the transformation of human society from being primitive to been highly industrialised.

    He said: “Global transport industry is changing in response to climate change and urban gridlock challenges. No nation can afford to seat on the fence, but to join in the crusade of green mobility for the optimisation of vehicular usage. It is pertinent to assert that the G8 nations -Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – are on the run, especially in the area of green mobility.”

    The don said globalisation of transportation standards and production of hybrid vehicles required adoption of ITS principles and complemented with infrastructure development that must be strategically planned to cater for the future challenges.

    “Coordinating traffic signals, giving signal priority to transit lanes, electronic information signs and variable speed limit signs are all part of the burgeoning ITS industry. Also part of ITS is the ability to automatically distribute real-time traffic data to websites, social media feeds, mobile devices, local television and radio stations,” he added.

    Dukiya urged the government and transport stakeholders to develop a master plan for the implementation of ITS infrastructure across the nation, adding that the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment should be analysing and disseminating early warning signals for traffic control and passengers’ safety.

    The lecturer canvassed the enactment of a legislation that would market made-in-Nigeria vehicles and criminalise vehicle smuggling activities.

    He said: “Financially supporting the establishment of Nigerian automobile sector, as part of measures to promote local content and inspire young inventors, is absolutely imperative. To this end, government should empower indigenous automobile spare parts manufacturers in Aba and Nnewi.”

    Dukiya, who is a registered member of the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP), is also the pioneer Head of Transport Management Technology Department of the institution. He is the immediate past Deputy Dean, School of Entrepreneurship and Management Technology (SEMT).

    His areas of specialisation are remote sensing applications, transportations planning and environmental management. He is presently the Director of Centre for Disaster Management and Development Studies (CDMDS).

  • Don urges investors to imbibe sustainable development

    Financiers and investors in Nigeria need to imbibe the principles of sustainable finance and investment and ensure that their financing and investment decisions take into consideration possible negative social and environmental impacts.

    Director, Sustainable Business Initiative, University of Edinburg Business School, Professor Kenneth Amaeshi, said investors and financiers should play primary roles as drivers for adoption of sustainable development by supporting projects, which positively impact not only the economy, but the nation’s social and governance structures.

    Amaeshi, who was the guest speaker at the Finance and Investment Dialogue on Prospects for Sustainable Finance and Investment in Nigeria, organised by GTI Capital Limited in collaboration with Business AM newspaper, said the adoption of principles of sustainability will lead to progressive government and increased profitability for Nigerian companies.

    He noted that projects by companies have both economic and social costs, but most companies pay more attention to economic cost instead of working towards eliminating or reducing social costs.

    “Sustainability is about how companies make their money, the challenge is to find ways of reducing negative impacts while increasing positive impacts,” Amaeshi said.

    He noted that financiers and investors had contributed to creating many of the societal problems by providing funds to companies, which engage in environmental degradation and health hazards among others.

    While urging investors and finance companies to use their funds to drive adoption of principles of sustainability, he pointed out that they stand to make more returns on their investments as the society, the economy and governance improve.

    According to him, while it may appear that there is no direct link between sustainability and profitability, there is an indirect relationship as the resultant improvement in reputation, greater resource management, employee productivity, customer loyalty and community goodwill will bring increased and sustainable profits.

    “By reducing social costs, you become more efficient and increase the goodwill of the company, which will turn to profit in due course,” Amaeshi said.

    He urged companies on voluntary compliance, noting that the nation’s financial services regulators are already working on a common programme to enforce principles of sustainability, which may come into effect by 2020.

    GTI Capital Limited Group Managing Director, Mr. Abubakar Lawal, said the dialogue series was borne out of the company’s desire to make meaningful impact on Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

    According to him, GTI is committed to a vision to impact Nigeria and influence Africa through positive contributions to national development.

    He emphasised the need for citizen-led participatory process that will lead to adoption of sustainable financing and investment, which will in turn benefit the general citizenry while helping the government to harness greater productivity and national wealth.

    The Business AM Managing Director, Mr Phillips Isakpain, in his remarks,  emphasised the need for futuristic thinking as a driving point for agenda setting.

    “Our discussion about Nigeria should be futuristic. A lot of the things that we do tend to remain current or in the past, but Nigeria deserves to begin to talk about the future. Our children should be paramount in our discussions on how to move forward as a nation,” Isakpa said.

  • Don challenges CAM/TAM practitioners

    • Council Physicians inaugurates Natural Medicine graduates

    It was no small crowd at the at the main hall of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Kofo Abayomi, Victoria Island, Lagos when this year’s set of Green Centre Academy’s International Diploma students were inuagurated as graduates of Natural Medicine.

    The hall was filled to capacity.

    The event was in collaboration with the school’s foreign partner, Kaatsu International University, Sri Lanka.

    They were also inducted into the Nigerian Council of Physicians and Natural Medicine (NCPNM).

    Chairperson of the event Prof Adebukola Adefule Oshitelu, while welcoming guests, called on policy makers, governments, and practitioners of Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Traditional Medicine (TM) to seek unity and professionalism.

    Adefule-Ositelu, a professor of Ophthalmology, said CAM providers’ recognition, regulatory and legal mechanisms, equitable distribution of benefits and information, and adequate allocation of resources for its development were issues that must be resolved if integrative medicine care that conforms to the World Health Organisation (WHO) agenda is to be realised.

    She said WHO established specific objectives that address policy, safety, efficacy, quality, access, and rational use of CAM therapies. She explained that challenges to meeting these objectives are many, yet they must be addressed, considering the growing economic and potential public health impact of CAM/TM.

    She said policy objectives identified by the WHO are designed to promote integration of (certain) CAM/TM approaches into the national health care system. “The WHO objectives of determining the safety and efficacy and advancing the mechanistic understanding of CAM/TM therapeutics through pertinent, pragmatic research pose significant challenges. There has been a major increase in CAM research over the past 10 to 15 years.

    “Yet unilateral research protocols i.e, those that do not involve collaborations between main stream and CAM/TM scientists/practitioners generally tend to be poorly developed, lacking either an adequate study design or a well-developed address of specific constructs of the CAM approach studied,”she said.

    Prof Adefule-Ositelu urged the graduates not to give up in their chosen profession, but take it seriously.

    “The knowledge gained during the course of your study should come in handy in tackling some of the health challenges the country is facing. Please, graduands work together, and be united in purpose in order to ensure that natural medicine and complimentary alternative medicine takes its proper place in the Nigerian health space,” she stated.

    Dr Timothy Salihu, who represented the Director-General, Nigeria Natural Medicine Development agency (NNMDA), Pharmacist Samuel Etatuvie, encouraged the graduands to abide by the ethics of the profession, especially considering the fact that they are dealing with human beings.

    “There is a lot of wrong doings going on, out there. Don’t hide some of this information you have gathered. Also, try and make sure that you train people and share some of these secrets with them so that more work will be done. The forests of yesteryears are no longer there, especially given the rate of deforestation in Nigeria, which has been put at 3.5. The forests are going and all the extractive industries, including traditional medicine are affected. The need for domestication and cultivation of some of these species we use in traditional medicine is more important than ever before, so that they will be available for use in traditional medicine,” he added.

    Director of Programmes, Green Centre Academy, Dr Darlington Okafor, said it was just like a dream  and the institution is proud of what “we have achieved today”.

    Dr Okafor said: “What we are presenting to you today is not just our personal effort but the combined effort of both the Nigerian Council of Physicians and Natural Medicine (NCPNM) and the academy. They’ve given us a lot of support. I’m overwhelmed with what I am seeing and I know this is just the beginning; this is just a platform to launch higher. We are for tops.”

    The ceremony also witnessed a presentation by the graduates, who came up with different health supplements, to back up their years of research. Some of their inventions  include fertility medication as well as brain function enhancers.

    Following that, they were formally inducted into the NCPNM in a brief ceremony that was rendered in both English and French languages.

    There were representatives from Ghana, Benin, Niger, Cameroon, and Togo. Other dignitaries at the occasion are: Prof Magnus Atilade, Prof Bodunrin Oluwa, Prof Titi Oduye, Prof Bade Adewale, Prof Idowu Ogunkoya, Prof Gilbert Ezengige, Prof Cyril Omisande, Prof Ndubisi Nwakakwa, Prof Dike Celestine and Dr Adedamola Bank-Kadejo.

    West African University of Natural Medicine was also inaugurated. The Vision, according to Atilade, is to transport and reposition West Africa to enviable height by unnearthing, redirecting and revealing to desirous, studious and brilliant minds the world over, those immesurable and diverse natural medicinal repositories and skills from West Africa sub region; simultaneously, also offering timely solutions to world’s curable and supposedly incurable diseases and ailments utilising natures ways and gifts.

    Prof  Atilade said the Mission is to enagge in training, retraining and impartation of time-honoured, disease intervention modalities and researches of African  origin with the aim of achieving economic prosperity, health, peace and social well being for the entire human race at large and West Africans in particular.

  • Don seeks honour for Adefela

    PROF. Innocent Okoye yesterday urged the federal government to honour the pioneer Editor-in-Chief of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Prof. Femi Adefela, for his roles in the development of journalism.

    Okoye, a Mass Communication scholar, made the appeal in a keynote address delivered at the public presentation and launch of a book “Mind on the Wing” held at the NAN Media Centre, Lagos.

    The book was written by Adefela as part of activities marking his 80th birthday.

    Adefela, a teacher of journalism with long-standing experience as a writer, was appointed pioneer Editor-In-Chief of NAN in 1976 and left in 1985.

    According to Okoye, we are celebrating Adefela today not only because of his intellectual endowment and Spartan discipline but also because he was the fulcrum upon which NAN was built.

    “Adefela set up NAN’s regional, states, districts and even rural editorial offices. Credit of setting up the first foreign bureaux of NAN also goes to Adefela. They were in London. Washington, New York, Moscow, New Delhi, Belgrade, Cairo, Abidjan and Harare.

    “In deploying reporters to the foreign offices, Adefela was not only professional but detribalised. He also kept the spirit of the constitution and reflected federal character.

    “Adefela accorded training of journalists a very high priority. He sent correspondents on attachment to AP, Reuters, TASS and UPI.

    “He also frequently invited journalism scholars from Baylor University, Waco, Texas and University of Lagos, to run workshops for NAN journalists,” Okoye said.

  • Don re-enacts Uli art in textile

    The University of Nigeria, Nsukka Art School is famous for the use of Uli idiom to provide a counter-narrative to western cultural imperialism.

    Uli, a traditional painting of Igbo women, has been transformed by the school into a modern tool of creative engagement.  In the place of colonial art education, which reflected western art academy, artists in the school have evolved new ways of reasserting their creative identity through the exploration of their traditional art, culture and history.

    Until recently, the creative success of the NsukkaArt School was associated with male artists who are mainly painters and sculptors.

    Dr Ritadoris Ubah, an artist from the school, has carved a niche  for herself by engaging Uli motifs in full textile fabric composition that reflects the dynamics of design.  In her art, Ubah set forth to tap into artistic resources and innovation in painting, sculpture and textile in the Nsukka School by using them as the basis for her art experimentation and creation.

    In her latest exhibition, Ubah draped a car with fabric designed with uli motifs, in full complement of ladies and students adorned in her creative textile design.  The display portrayed an interface of tradition and modernity. The artist creatively transformed what used to be a painting on the bare skin of Igbo women to modern clothing that served the same purpose of beauty enhancement.

    Ubah’sgoal is to develop a creative female voice that would complement the achievements of painters and sculptures from the Nsukka School.

    Her fascination is local traditions of arts and craft, Ubahgets her inspiration not only from Igbo body painting, now reinvented as Uli,  but also from the aesthetic richness of the Yoruba Adire and tie and dye traditions and technique.

    “Although I borrow from tradition, my production is an art of modernity”, Ubah, a lecturer in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts of the university, told the crowd that gathered at her exhibition.

    An observation of Ubah’s creative display reveals a promotion of art with hybrid content. She borrows ideas from creative works from other related creative discipline other than her area of specialisation. Her work is an exploitation of the potential of the quilted, printed, painted, and embroidered and installation techniques in textile art production.

    Ubah’screativity provides a visual testimony of how a textile artiste can reinvent her traditions of arts and crafts, appropriate them and exploit their creative potential in making important artistic statements.

    “I try to demonstrate that artistes must return to history from which to renew their creativity”, the artiste said.

    Among the repertoire of her work on display was a vertical pictorial composition executed with quilting technique. The composition was arranged with cluster ofuli motifs. Each colour of the motif complements each other in their visual tension.  The use of an intense colour palette in the composition is similar to what one could find in Igbo wall painting, which endows the work with affecting presence of tradition.

    Also on display wereuli symbols batiked on a two colour fabric. The work demonstrates the artist’s affinity with tradition. She carefully appropriated the artistic resources of the Yoruba adire tradition which has been made popular by Nike Monica Okundaye, a painter, textile designer and multimedia artiste. “This production is my way of looking back to the aesthetic power of the Yoruba culture and tradition, Ubah said in her explanations.

    There was also terracotta and fabric glass pots designed with Uli motifs. The artiste, worked like a painter, engaging the potter’s ceramic wares as a base for her creative enterprise. The artiste drives pottery and allied media into the ways of ceramic production by transforming themutable into textile works. Ubahused thework to create proximity between a textile artist, a painter and a ceramic artiste.

    In what is fast becoming her trademark, Ubah’s latest solo exhibition portrays her determination to enter the hall of fame of renowned artiste from the Nsukka School.

     

  • Respect teachers to get the best, says don

    To attract the best brains, a professor of Education, Mrs Ngozi Osarenren, has called for greater respect for the teaching profession.

    In a paper at the flag-off of the 2018 Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year Award last Friday at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Osarenren said teachers played vital roles in inculcating knowledge and societal norms and, therefore, needed to be carefully selected for the job.

    She said this could only happen if the profession got the respect it deserved. “If Nigeria must be saved from the menace of unqualified and incompetent teachers, the nation must find career oriented teachers, who want to do the job for their passion and not because it is the last option available,” said Osarenren, a former Commissioner for Education in Edo State.

    She listed other factors that could attract the best hands to the profession to include professionalism, reasonable and regular salary, job security and competitive entry requirements for would-be teachers.

    In his speech, Nigerian Breweries Plc Managing Director, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel, said the Nigerian Breweries Plc-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund expanded its intervention in education in Nigeria to teachers through the Maltina Teacher of the Year award.

    Through the award, Bel, represented by the company’s Corporate Affairs Adviser, Mr Kufre Ekanem, said teachers get the recognition that hardly comes to them despite their hardwork.

    Since it started, Bel said award had produced 69 state champions and three overall winners.

    Announcing opening of entries for the 2018 edition of the award Bel said teachers had until July 2, 2018 to apply online (www.maltina-nigeria.com).

    He said the Maltina Teacher of the Year will get N1 million, a trophy and another N1 million every year for the next five years, and a block of classrooms constructed at the school where he or she teaches.

    The first runner-up will receive N1 million and a trophy, while the second runner-up will have N750, 000 and a trophy. In addition, each state champion, including the winner and the first and the second runners-up will get N500, 000.

    Past winners of the MTOY were: Rose Nkemdilim Obi, Anambra (2015); Imoh Essien, Akwa Ibom (2016); and Felix, Ariguzo, Delta State (2017).

  • Invest in movies, don urges Muslims

    A call has been made to Muslims to invest in the film industry as a way of projecting the beauty of Islam and countering the negative depiction of Muslims on the screen.

    This call was made by Associate Professor of English, University of Ilorin, Dr. Mahfouz Adedimeji, penultimate Sunday, while reviewing a film produced by Dr. Faoziyah Sulaiman of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Ilorin, at the Africa Hall of Mustapha Akanbi Foundation, Ilorin, Kwara State.

    In his review, entitled “Give Little, Get Plenty: A Review of Ojo Ogundoju’s ‘Charity’”, Dr. Adedimeji noted that the global movie industry is partly used in psychological warfare “where violence is unleashed on Muslims through name-calling, character assassination, sheer propaganda and negative framing, which all seem to justify vilifying Muslims, occupying their lands and generally tormenting them,” with a typical Muslim portrayed as a “bad guy” and a Muslim woman as “oppressed”.

    Dr. Adedimeji, who is also the Secretary General of the University of Ilorin Muslim Community, deplored the Western cinematic narrativity that is obsessed with the negative stereotyping of Muslims.

    While commending the script writer and producer, Dr. Sulaiman and the Director, Mr. Ogundoju, on a job well done, the reviewer, who is the immediate past Director of the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, submitted that the effort was welcome because the Nigerian movie industry is also not free of films that offend the sensibility of Muslims.

    He revealed that the production of “Asewo to re Mecca” in 1992 was detestable to Muslims just like more recent titles like “Basiratu Baseje”, “Aminatu Pa-pa-pa”, “Osanle Modinat”, “Sikiratu Sindodo”, “Jelili Oniso”and “Awalu and Awawu”, where, according to him,”Islamic names, symbols and identity are caricatured and denigrated”.

    Congratulating Dr. Sulaiman, the Chairman of the occasion, Chief Yunusa Oyeyemi, said that he had known the producer for some time because of her commitment to impacting on the society through writing.

  • Don recommends automation as kernel for national development

    A professor of Design, Automation and Energy, Landmark University, Omu Aran, Kwara State, Christian Osueke, is seeking the adoption of automation as the major catalyst toward achieving national growth and development.

    Osueke, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, spoke yesterday while delivering the institution’s 5th inaugural lecture.

    He spoke on: “Divine Secrets: The Booster of Innovative Design and Automation”.

    The don said such adoption became necessary to reduce production cost and eliminate waste.

    He defined automation as entailing the use of machines and material handling equipment to carry out manufacturing processes with high level of speed, consistency and precision beyond the capacity of human.

    According to him, the continuous application of muscular efforts in form of hand pressure leads to fatigue, loss of concentration and inaccurate production.

    Osueke said the world was in the era of innovative design and automation, soft and hardware usage, geared toward achieving enhanced productivity, adding that Nigeria should not be an exception.

    He said: “Technology determines the level of the nation’s security. Technology eradicates food insecurity. We are in the era of adaptive control, the era of innovative design and automation, the era of soft and hardware usage in enhancing productivity,”

    The don said the country was in need of transformation and economic development, adding: “It is the local content technological revolution that can assist in achieving such desired transformation.”

    He said: “The nation cannot continue to depend on imported technology and food and expect it to be classified as a developed country. Rather, innovative design and automation are the answer to the technological revolution and self-sufficiency through the release of divine secrets.”

    Osueke, who bemoaned the nation’s poor and inadequate energy regime, said such could be a hindrance toward achieving the desired technological breakthrough.

    He noted that the imbalance between rate of energy supply and demand is responsible for the high cost of goods and services experienced across the country.

    “Industries were forced to generate their power in the course of production, while homes are not left out in the energy demand,” Osueke said.

    “Almost all homes now have generators, despite the abundant supply of natural resources, such as coal, hydro, natural gas, crude oil, etc.”

    The don said government’s efforts toward strengthening the private sector as engine of growth through improved efficiency and waste reduction could only be achieved by efficient electricity generation.

    The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adeniyi Olayanju, reiterated the institution’s commitment to upholding functional capacity as a means of driving solution to societal challenges.

    He said the university prioritised spiritual core values, adding that such had earned it access to the divine secrets that had continued to define its operations and accomplishments.

    “It is a great privilege to have a spiritual father, an exemplary leader and visionary of high repute as our Chancellor, Dr. David Oyedepo, whose support for quality education cannot be overemphasised,” Olayanju said.

    “This is evidenced in his immensurable investment in Landmark University, the conducive environment created for raising not only global leaders but also deserving professors from young academics,” he concluded.

  • Sex-for-mark: OAU prof has case to answer

    •Victim identified

    Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State has suspended a senior lecturer, Prof. Richard Akindele, allegedly involved in a sex scandal.

    He was suspended, pending the determination of the case.

    The university said it had established that the female voice in the phone conversation was that of Miss Monica Osetobe Osagie, a postgraduate Business Administration student doing a regular programme.

    A statement by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede, said: “Having regard to the gravity of the offence for which Prof.  Akindele is found to be prima facie liable, the vice chancellor, in line with the code of conduct of the university and acting under the laws and regulations of the university enabling him in that regard, has directed his suspension.

    “We will like to reiterate that OAU will continue to do everything legally and morally acceptable in pursuance of its avowed commitment to zero tolerance for sexual harassment, intimidation and, or coercion.”

    Prof. Ogunbodede said he had received and considered the interim report of the Investigative Committee.

    He said according to the report submitted to the Office of the Vice Chancellor, it had been established that Prof. Akindele of the Department of Management and Accounting was the lecturer in the controversial “marks for sex” audio recording.

    The vice chancellor said: “Although the committee had invited Prof. Akindele and Miss Osagie, only the professor appeared before the committee. Miss Osagie is yet to appear or make any representation.

    “The report indicated that other witnesses appeared before the committee and gave evidence. The university is making efforts to ensure that Miss Osagie appears before the committee so that it can hear her side of the case and submit its final report.

    “The committee observed that a prima facie case of inappropriate relationship with the female student had been established against Prof. Akindele. The vice chancellor, having carefully and dispassionately considered the report, came to the conclusion that a prima facie case of serious misconduct has been established.

    “Under the provisions of the relevant statute of the university, an academic worker can only be dismissed or have his or her appointment terminated when the matter on which consideration is being given has been investigated by a Joint Council and Senate Committee, and the worker has appeared before the committee with his or her counsel, if so desired.

    “This procedure is the minimum requirement of the law and regulations of the university. It should, therefore, be noted that the suspension of Prof. Akindele is on the basis of the findings of the committee that he is prima facie liable, and this decision will abide, pending the final determination of the case by the council.”

  • Don proffers solution on saving Lake Chad

    Academic and environmental expert Prof. Haruna Ayuba has proposed evaporation suppression as alternative technique to save Lake Chad from extinction.

    Ayuba, who teaches at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), spoke in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    He said water transfer was the first option in restoring the lake, adding that this will require the movement of water from another river.

    ‘‘Suppressing evaporation can also help in the restoration of Lake Chad. We live in the tropics and we receive much water from rainfall.

    ‘‘The water disappears through evaporation; we can suppress the evaporation which is the amount of moisture that goes up into the atmosphere.

    ‘‘Part of the reasons for the drying up of Lake Chad is the high rate of evaporation of water,” he opined.

    The don said stakeholders should create more awareness on measures to save the lake.

    ‘‘Climate change is a developmental issue, every hand must be on deck.

    ‘‘We need to build capacity, tell people the signs of climate change, because some people don’t understand that.

    ‘‘We need all the experts, stakeholders to develop a policy framework that people need to follow,” he said.

    Similarly, he said with proper use of science and technology, scientists can reduce challenges of restoring the shrinking lake.

    According to him, development of science and technology in Nigeria is still laid-back, adding that the country lacks a strategic plan to build the sector.

    He decried the lack of equipment for science-related courses in tertiary institutions.

    Ayuba noted that polytechnics, which were established to drive the sector, have been allegedly disregarded.

    ‘‘We have also killed our polytechnics; the polytechnics are supposed to help in building the technical manpower in the country.

    ‘‘Now, the emphasis is on paper qualification, even those who graduate from polytechnics are coming to take degrees all over again,” he said.

    He said the nation should  emphasise practical application of acquired knowledge and discourage paper qualification.

    NAN reports that Lake Chad Basin has shrunk to 2,500 square kilometres in 2000 from its 1960s’ size of 25,000.