Don seeks funding for postgraduate education to drive development

Nigeria's quest for sustainable national development will remain elusive without deliberate investment in advanced research, infrastructure, and human capital, according to Prof. Abel Olayinka, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan.

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Most people who want to pursue postgraduate education don’t really have the funding to see them through. Many are working in secondary schools or other places just to make ends meet, and paying tuition becomes a major challenge.

Speaking at the maiden Postgraduate School Discourse of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Olayinka stressed that postgraduate education is crucial for driving innovation and national development. He identified inadequate funding as the primary obstacle, preventing many aspiring master's and PhD students from completing their studies and leaving universities grappling with poor infrastructure and a shortage of qualified academic staff.

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If the government can provide generous scholarships or bursaries, students will be able to concentrate on their studies. Within three or four years, they would complete their PhDs and also begin supervising another generation of researchers.

Olayinka called for government-funded scholarships and bursaries to enable students to focus on their academic pursuits. He noted that many departments lack essential research facilities, and erratic electricity supply further undermines scientific research. The high cost of diesel for generators exacerbates these challenges, making sustained research difficult.

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Most departments do not have adequate facilities. There are problems with electricity, water and other infrastructure. Some laboratories rely on refrigerators that must be maintained at specific temperatures continuously, but we do not have the luxury of a constant power supply.

Beyond infrastructure, the professor highlighted the urgent need for more academic staff to effectively supervise postgraduate students. He emphasized that strengthening universities requires increasing the number of lecturers capable of teaching and guiding master's and PhD candidates. This investment in human resources is vital for nurturing the next generation of researchers and driving Nigeria's progress.

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We don’t have enough human resources. Universities need to be strengthened because most of them don’t have enough lecturers to teach and supervise master’s and PhD students. We really need