From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Federal government said plans are ongoing to commercialise the Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB) by the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) by June.
General Director of the National Board For Technology Incubation, Dr Uchenna Chukwu stated this at a one day workshop on Technology sourcing & joint research and commercialisation effort with the academia, held in Abuja, yesterday.
She stressed that the commercialisation of the compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB) would make housing affordable since it is more cheaper than cement.
” In next three months, the NBRRI stabilised bricks which reduces the cost of cement will be commercialised. The commercialisation of this Nibril stabilised bricks will reduce cost of building , hereby making housing affordable., Dr Chukwu added.
According to Dr. Chukwu the essence of the workshop, was to educate academia, researchers and industrialists on their roles, adding that there must be synergy among agencies and stakeholders to foster commercialisation of R & D results in the country.
“Bringing academia industry and researchers will help us alot in our technological development, especially in the areas of commercialisation of our R&D results.
“We have called all of us to this one day workshop to discuss and brainstorm on ways of synergizing with the Academia and industry to ensure equitable technology sourcing as well as effective ways for product evaluation, standardization and commercialization leading to sustainable socio-economic development of Nigeria” she noted.
“I will enjoin us all to do justice to this discuss and come up with a communique that will define the way forward”
On his part, Professor Azikiwe Peter Onwualu stated that no country can develop without properly funding its research.
” We have all it takes to develop this country. If we really want to develop this country, lets fund research and incubate them.