Don Advocates China Option to Address Nigeria’s Problems

James Sowole in Abeokuta

A microbiologist at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Professor Moses Efuntoye, has advised the federal government to adopt the China option by looking inward, to address myriads of problems confronting the Nigeria’s economy.

Efuntoye said the federal government should seize the current economic hardship to galvanise the country’s rich human resources to invent urgent solutions to food, energy and other challenges confronting the country now.

The don stated that this critical time of Nigeria’s history demands that the country adopts the China option, close its borders to the world, impress it seriously on citizens to begin to look inward and use local contents to innovatively address the needs of the over 200 million population.

The call was part of the recommendations  proffered by Efuntoye while delivering the 116th Inaugural Lecture of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.

he lecture entitled: ‘The Triad of Toughness, Tenacity and Tameness in the Tale of Antibiotic Resistance’, was held at Otunba Gbenga Daniel Multipurpose Hall on the university campus.

To address the country’s problem, Efuntayo advocated for setting up a consortium of researchers drawn from the country’s universities to commence meaningful collaborative research towards finding solutions to the socio-economic, political, technological, food and health issues. He also advocated that non-conventional universities such as Federal Universities of Agriculture, and Technology should  among others be given research mandates to find answers to critical issues facing the country, and which must be fulfilled within a specific time frame.

According to him, funds for such research mandates should be drawn from TETFund and should be devoid of government bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Speaking on the topic of the lecture, the professor expressed concern over the economic burden of antimicrobial resistance at the national and global levels, saying aside the costs such as reduced productivity due to illness and even death which may arise after treatment failure, the war against antibiotic resistance is one that may never be won.

He noted that bacteria are today known to form “cooperative societies” to survive the actions of antibiotics by forming a multilayer conglomeration of diverse species of bacteria called biofilms, especially on kits used in the treatment of ailments.

The lecturer urged the Nigerian government to explore alternatives to antibiotics in the treatment of infections, even as he warned that some of the swimming pools, insects, fish from ponds and herbal products being patronised in parts of Southwest of Nigeria were reservoirs of antibiotics resistance bacteria.