By Bimbo Ogunnaike
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Education to organise a national summit on research and development within the second quarter of 2020.
Buhari gave the directive on Tuesday during the convocation ceremony of the Alex-Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo (AE-FUNAI).
He said the summit should draw participants from the academia, industry and top government functionaries, NAN reports.
“The summit will help in drawing up a draft agenda for the country’s research priorities as our development as a nation can only be concretised if we succeed in getting our research and development priorities right.
“Our diverse nation is confronted with the challenges of a high population growth rate and the academia must guide the thinking and actions that convert these challenges to opportunities.
“Let us through our thinking, teaching and actions, turn our large, diverse population into a reservoir of human resource capital that will leverage this government’s economic recovery and growth plan,” the President said.