Bowen University VC Advocates Collaboration Among Nigerian Universities To Achieve Success In Research

The Vice Chancellor, Bowen University, Iwo, Prof Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, has advocated collaboration among public and private universities in Nigeria to achieve success in research.

He maintained that the best way to get a good result in research is to encourage those that have ideas work together with another persons with certain ideas.

He spoke at the hall of Bowen university, Iwo, during a ‘News Point’, a programme of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Osun state.

According to the university don, adequate structure must ground before embarking on research so as to get good result.

He said, “for research to serve Nigeria well, there must be a structure. There need to be collaboration among universities in Nigeria. No one single person can do all. You must acknowledge that some people are good in one area and other in another area and then you come together. By so doing and having a structure on ground while you also celebrate Nigeria scientists, of course, you are going to get result. You will definitely get result.

Ogunwole also disclosed that Bowen university is partnering USAID, New Zealand and other International organizations for development of tomatoes, root crops, and other herbs.

“We are about signing an MoU with the maker of peakmilk and three crown milk. They have built a centre in the university. Bowen will be a center for milk collection. We have about 60 cows on ground and we are planning to make it 100,” he added.

Reacting to the proposal for the use of mother tongue to teach in universities, Ogunwole said those that are willing to use it should be allowed.

He recalled that English has been recognized as official lingual franca, warning that the use of mother tongue to teach should not be forced on all schools.

“There should be opportunity for schools who want to use mother tongue to go ahead and do it. You can’t make something universal for education. The purpose of education is to disseminate information so that another person can acquire it. So, anyway with which that person can understand it, acquire it and make good use of it, go ahead. I believe what we need do is to allow all these to run together. If there are people who want to use mother tongue to teach science, why not. But you can not make it a law that everybody must do, you will place others at a disadvantage.”

Reacting to the purported high school fees, the VC explained that Bowen has allowed part-payment to make it easy for the parents, noting that no amount is too much to be spent on education.

“There is no amount of money that you can not pay to educate a child. If you don’t, go and try ignorant. Education is the only inheritance you can bequeath the next generation. In Bowen, you can pay a part. Education is never cheap,” he added.

On compliance with COVID-19 protocols, Ogunwole said Bowen has complied with the protocols, saying that final year students are still receiving lectures from home.

He said, “we followed the protocol. When they were coming to school, we pleaded with them to come with 1,0000miligram of vitamin-C. We have given them zinc to take, free of charge, to boost their immunity. We all know the prediction of our ‘friends’ but God made them nonsense. We’ve not had any experience of COVID-19 at all. We are even prepared. We reduced the capacity in the hostel. Our final year students, we are teaching them at home online.”