A new rice variety and other seeds are about to be rolled out by the University of Ilorin as parts of its scientfic innovation drive. UMAR ABDULWAHAB reports.
The vice chancellor University of Ilorin Professor Wahab Egbewole recently at a press briefing to herald the institution’s 39th convocation ceremony broke a cheering news to farmers about the efforts of a team of researchers from the university to roll out a variety of rice that can survive without water.
He said the rice specie is expected to be produced in commercial quantities very soon.
Egbewole said the team of UNILORIN researchers are collaborating with one of their international partners and academics, Professor Ramar Krishnamurthy from Uka Tarsadia University, India to realise the project.
Apart from the collaboration on rice variety, Egbewole said Professor Ramar has facilitated some of members of staff to visit India for teaching, research, mobility and completion of their Ph.D programmes.
On how soon it will come to fruition, the VC explained that the researchers are currently at a stage of multiplying the rice seeds to make it available in commercial quantities.
The federal government had banned the importation of foreign rice to encourage local farmers to embark on large scale production of rice and boost the economy of the nation but this has remained a hardnut to crack as the issue of climate change, flooding and banditary have continued to serve as a clog in the wheels of progress of famers leading to a surge in prices of staple foods.
The surge in staple food prices including rice recently have sparked social unrest, prompting many young Nigerians to protest against the high cost of living.
In response, the federal government ordered temporal suspension of import duties on selected food items to cushion the effect of high cost of living on the masses.
Despite these measures, price of rice has been going astronomically. Therefore, when the VC broke the news about a new rice variety that can survive without staying in the water, it was greeted with excitements from members of the audience.
Many expressed delight that the university which is one of the most sort-after is living up to its expectation of also providing solutions to the nation’s challenges through research.
4, 000 hectres of maize, soyabeans underway
Similarly, Egbewole announced that the university is currently concluding the public private partnership option with Oriental Energy Farms to cultivate about 4,000 hectares of land to produce maize and soybean with value addition.
“The full business case has now been submitted to ICRC to implement this project,” he said.
According to him, a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the university and British America Tobacco Nigeria Foundation for Graduate Agriprenuer Project.
“Four alumni of Faculty of Agriculture won 1.5million naira each as participants of the 1st Cohort of BATNF-Unilorin GAP. They are already working on their projects on the university farm,” he said.
Research grant
Speaking further, the VC said In the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and community service, the Senate Research Grant (SRG) was revived with a ₦200,000,000.00 budgeted in 2023 and in 2024 respectively.
“A new initiative of SRG (Special Intervention) was introduced with the sum of N50 million annually. It is our hope that this will increase the support for our researcher to embark on groundbreaking researches.
“Also, several academic staff of the university had attracted various grants from TETFund, national and foreign bodies for research and training with the university having about 20 patents and innovations to its name.
“The university was recently announced as the institution with most patents by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. Laboratory-to-Product (LABTOP) Centre University of Ilorin, emerged as the second runners up at the Inaugural Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPPTO) awards in Nigeria. The event was held on 31stJanuary, 2024 in Abuja. Some staff and students of the university are currently undergoing a Distance Learning Programme at the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) in Geneva.”
Patenting and its challenges
Highlighting some of the major challenges of the commercialisation of the university’s patent works, the VC lamented that most Nigerian industries that could have taken up the commercialisation of the university’s patent work lacked the financial capabilities to do so.
“Recently we had, through our U INSPIRE, an award system meant to prepare our students for internships, job volunteering, hands-on-skills that would position them ahead in today’s competitive world, had an interaction with the Industry.
“This is to ensure that we commercialise some of our patents. In the process we saw some challenges. The truth is that our industries are like trade centres. They do not have the wherewithal to support the commercialisation.
“Most of the industries identified are also relying on banks and these banks as we are reading in the newspapers are facing their challenges,” Egbewole said.
Motivation
He said he university also recognised and rewarded staff for publishing highly rated journals to serve as further motivation for research.
“Presently, researchers in our Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in collaboration with researchers in the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), Spain and the Royal Holloway University of London, UK is currently undertaking research in Innovative Veterinary Solutions for Antimicrobial Resistance through a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada Dollars worth 1.6 Million (₦2,200,000,000.00).
“Our Faculty of Agriculture team won 2nd place in the Climate Risk Research Challenge organised by Sustainable Africa Initiative in collaboration with the Climate Risk Research Foundation. An award of $3,500 was received at the University of Ibadan on 25th June 2024.
“Also, the plant breeding programme of the Faculty of Agriculture partnership with IITA on Soyabean Research Development continued to be sustained. Two academic staff attended the International Hands-on Training on CRISPR/Cas-mediated Genome Editing which was organised by the Centre for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and food security (CAS-AFS), D-8 Research Centre for Agriculture and food security (D-8 RCAFS), National Centre for Genome Editing (NCGE) and Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
“Two other staff are currently on training on Stem Cell research in Wisconsin University, USA. The training which was scheduled to last for 18 months took effect from 15th of October 2022 and is expected to end on 30th of June, 2024. To ensure that after their training they will have facilities to work with, the university is engaging with TETFund and other national and international partners to construct a Stem Cell Centre.”
Strategy
On the strategy being adopted by the university in breaking new research grounds, Egbewole said, “The internationalisation strategy of the university has enabled staff and students’ exchange. One doctoral student from the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, Adeyemi Roheemat Olabimpe was in Lithuania on an Erasmus+ KA171 Scholarship for Research Training under the Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies at Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, from May 6th to July 25th, 2024. Babalola David visited Morriston Hospital in Wales from January 11th to January 19th, 2024, on a student exchange programme.
“Two students from the Faculty of Physical Sciences, Raji Mustapha Adekunle and Balogun Ayo Felix, embarked on Ph.D bench work in India.”
Just like some students of the University of Ilorin are visiting foreign universities for research training, the university is also receiving foreign students on similar mission.
