IGBINEDION UNIVERSITY OKADA PARTNERS GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS TO FIND LASTING REMEDY TO EFFECTS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON HUMANITY.

By Mike ALADENIKA.

Nigeria's  premier private University, Igbinedion University okada has added another feather to it's cap by initiating global partnership for research into the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the  economy, social contracts, research and development with a view to providing likely theories and solutions to the effects of the pandemic on humanity. 

The  Vice Chancellor, Igbinedion University, Okada, Prof. Lawrence Ikechukwu Ezemonye, while declaring open the University's 2021 annual research summit with the theme "Impact of Covid 19 On Research And Development said government and private  businesses and enterprises have closed, shrinked, anticipating the return of customers.

The University don who "lamented the destruction Covid 19 pandemic has done  to the  economy, social contracts, research and development globally, called for global co-operation, continental partnership and national mult-sectorial co-ordination to cultail the the situation.

"Government are stretching their budgets in developed countries while in developing countries, acquisition of foreign loans have become the other of the day" he said.

The Igbinedion Varsity VC pointed out that his major regret and lamentations about the situation was based on the fact that government in developing countries like Nigeria, have very limited resources to respond to the crisis.

He also noted that absence of policy responses have not helped matters, while climate change responses have fallen short of the Paris agreement objective of limiting global warming to 1.5c to 2c.

"Restoring global dynamism and continental optimism are required to change the scenerio, while responding to the fast changing landscape is a must. We need to innovate, we need to research out to new partners, we need to re-engage and build trust across the board". 

"As a result of this believe however, Igbinedion University's vision to be a Centre of Academic Excellence through teaching, research and knowledge production in response to contextualized national and global needs.

"This is also in tandem with the remit of Universities the world over, as ivory towers and citadels of learning, who commit themselves to knowledge generation, dessemination and application through research, teaching and community service respectively" he further noted.

Prof. Ezemonye also added that Igbinedion University's contributions to research and development towards meeting societal needs  and natural development were not in doubt.

"Mindful of the need for collaborative research, the University has gone further to partner with foreign institutions and researchers to actualize its research potentials while has attracted several grants and fellowships" 

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Kasirim Nwuke, Managing Partner, Misirak and Associations, a policy research firm and former Chief, Green Economy, Technologies and Innovation, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia among other professionals who gave their postulations towards addressing the issues and effect of Covid-19  pandemic. 

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