Too many crises hurt agric research institutes – Ogbeh

Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development has condemned   the incessant crises in various research institutes operating in the agricultural sector under the ministry of agriculture.

Expressing his displeasure at what he described as “crises of succession and management,” the minister lamented the losses caused by the demonstrating scientists and appealed to the researchers.

 “If you don’t get grants, you can’t do your work. If you disrupt activities, you can spoil some things, and you have to start over again,” Ogbe said during the commissioning of a Biiosafety Level three laboratory at NVRI, Vom, last week Thursday.

“Science is not sentiment, if you bring sentiment into science, then you can’t get results, at least not the kind of result you want,” he said.

The minister expressed disgust at the insensitivity of those involved in such agitations and demonstrations, which have led to significant losses to the nation through the damages caused to biological systems, in which farmers were deprived of precious plants and seedlings.

Assuring of his ministry’s support, Ogbeh said “it is not just about supporting this institute, it is about agriculture.”

He promised not to let funds be a problem but urged the scientists to concentrate on research. Emphasising further on the priority his ministry will give the scientists, he told them to “try to avoid the virus of politics and keep politics and sentiments away from science.”

He challenged the NVRI scientists to be strong and export vaccines to other parts of Africa and urged them to respond to the growing demands of the livestock industry.

According to him, “because you don’t produce, people smuggle or import various types of vaccines into this country. We need more vaccines,” he said, but promised to help the institute to commercialise the production units.