By Chinyere Anyanwu
The Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna and the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI), Badeggi, Niger State, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of efforts to ensure food security in Nigeria.
The MoU, signed by both parties recently, had the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Faruk Adamu Kuta, on behalf of the University while the Executive Director, NCRI, Badeggi, Dr. Aliyu Umar, signed for his institute.
Speaking shortly after appending his signature to the document, Kuta observed that the country was yet to take the economy seriously, adding that one way of addressing the issue was through such synergies by both institutions.
Prof. Kuta maintained that even though the university trains manpower for the nation, it would not be out of place to collaborate with a reputable institute like NCRI.
He expressed optimism in the mutual benefits the collaboration holds and urged both parties to ensure faithful implementation of the terms of the agreement so that the collaboration would achieve its aim. Noting that the trend in research is product oriented, he stressed the need for both parties to explore ways of making impact on the society through the collaboration. Prof. Kuta further gave assurance of not just his commitment to the collaboration, but determination to expand its scope.
In his remarks, the Executive Director of NCRI, Dr. Aliyu Umar, noted that the MoU will formalise and strengthen the long existing link between both parties.
Dr. Umar, who is also an alumnus of the university, stated that the collaboration was coming at a time NCRI was extending the frontiers of research and networking to harness the resources from it. He expressed hope that the partnership would result in a win-win situation for the parties.
The university’s Director of Collaboration Affiliation and Linkages, Prof. Israel Olayemi, who gave a brief on the scope of the MoU assured that the collaboration would work as the contents of the MoU were achievable and within the capacity of both institutions. The MoU is meant to establish cooperative relations between NCRI and FUT Minna in the areas of research, teaching, capacity building programmes and technology generation/dissemination for sustainable food and nutrition security in Nigeria.
It will also involve exchange of faculty and staff for research, which will provide both national and international exposure to faculty and staff from both institutions; exchange of faculty and scholars for short, medium or long-term period, which will enhance and guarantee further scientific and scholarly cooperation in research as well as exchange of staff and students for scholarly and research purposes.
Other aspects are joint supervision of postgraduate students and scientific publication; access by FUT Minna staff to further their research activities at NCRI facilities and FUT Minna shall give due consideration to the staff members of NCRI to further their postgraduate studies at FUT Minna as well as activities such as exchange of staff study tour, conducting research and/or supervising students’ projects, staff secondment for self-improvement and research, attending seminars, colloquia and academic discussions.
Study tour, attendance of courses and research; coordination of curricular/research proposal development; joint use of laboratories in both parties, among others, are also covered in the MoU.