‘Fight For More Research Allowance Not Books’

From Issah Alhassan, Kumasi
LECTURERS IN public universities in Ghana have been encouraged to put pressure on government to invest more in Research & Development(R&D) rather than fighting for meagre book allowances.

Ghana is ranked among countries that spend less than one percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on research, joining debt-ridden countries like Greece, which does not prioritize R&D as part of the development of her educational sector.

The situation is seen by many academicians as highly disturbing, considering the exegesis of the global development trend, which is moving towards advancement in research for societal development.

Big economies such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, Japan and China amongst others, spend close to between 3-5 percent of their GDP on research to advance the cause of development in their respective countries.

With Ghana’s figure hovering below 0.5 percent, many critics believe it will be very difficult for the country to see the much needed development through innovation and technology.

But addressing participants at the first ever African Review of Economic and Finance Conference organized by the Witwatersrand University of South Africa at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology(KNUST), Chairman of the Mine Geotechnical Engineering at the School of Mining Engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia, Prof. Fidelis T. Suorineni, thinks academicians in Ghana are not doing more to put pressure on government to allocate sizeable amount of funds towards research and development.

The conference brought together academicians who have excelled in their various fields of endeavours, especially in areas of economic, finance and natural resources, to deliberate and critique well researched papers on eight thematic areas.

According to him, lecturers in the country ought to push hard and fight government to spend more on research, rather than concentrating themselves with fringe benefits such as books allowance which he said adds little to academic.

Prof. Suorineni is a globally recognized and award winning academic with over 30 years of experience in teaching, research and consulting in Ghana, Canada and Australia, having also served on a number of international committees such as the Technical Committee on Mining and Engineering of China ENFI Engineering Company Limited.

Prof. Suorineni contended that Ghanaian academicians have the ability to perform excellently well when given the needed support in the areas of funds and logistics, stressing that many Ghanaians who find themselves in countries where the environment is conducive have chalked landmark successes.

“For me, I think our university Professors and PhD holders ought to do more; they must continue to fight government to invest much in research and development. This constant struggle for book allowances is not the way to go,” he noted

He wondered, for example, why Ghana continues to rely on foreign experts in mining when there are many human resources available locally, stressing further that it is highly unacceptable that after 1000 or so years in mining, many Ghanaians continue to lose their lives through mining activities.

Other notable speakers at the conference, which was hosted by the KNUST School of Business, were Prof. Extraordinary Augustin Fosu of the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, who spoke on Natural Resources, Institutions and Economic Development in Africa, as well as Prof. Paul Alagidede, who is in charge of the Wits School of Business in South Africa and Editor-in Chief of the AREF Journal.