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THE NATION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013
EDUCATION UNILAG GOLDEN JUBILEE CONVOCATION
PhD is expensive, says couple
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FTER three years of hard work to earn a doctorate, Dr Temitope Oluwaseun Samuel (nee Oguntade), can now relax. The 31-year-old was announced the best among the 47 (including her husband) that received their doctoral degrees during the golden jubilee convocation of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) last Thursday. However, she spent a fortune conducting research for the programme. Getting married to fellow doctoral student, Olusegun Samuel, while undergoing her PhD in Micology (study of fungi) meant she had little time to enjoy the niceties of a new marriage. She also could not enjoy full maternity leave because her thesis needed her full attention. "It's been a while I have been able to relax. I got married in the whole process of this PhD and I have not had time to enjoy my marriage. The research was not easy. Even the day I put to bed I was in the laboratory until 7pm. I didn't know that I would put to bed. Six weeks after giving birth, I was back," she said. When working on her thesis titled: "Studies on dermatophytes isolated from patients at two tertiary health institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria", Dr Samuel did not know that her research to determine why fungi infections reoccurred in patients after repeated treatment would be adjudged the best for the 2011/2012 academic session. Now that her research work has caught attention, she hopes that health authorities will review the methods for diagnosing fungal infection. She said: "My thesis is a current challenge in the demacology unit of the health sector. I realised that over the years when people have differ-
‘PhD is not something you can achieve with a million naira. It is very expensive. I used all my salary and my husband had to take a loan for me. I was sending my samples to Maryland, United States because there is no DNA Sequencer in Nigeria’
By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie
ent skin diseases after taking oral and topical prescriptions, they reoccur after sometime. I found out that almost all the mycology section use conventional laboratory method in diagnosing the disease. But it is not enough. In the 21st century advanced countries use both the conventional and molecular method. With both methods you get more accuracy about the exact organism causing the infection. Two organisms may look alike but by the time we use the molecular method and check the genetic make up. We can identify the particular organism. "The molecular method is in three stages involving: DNA extraction, Running a PCR on the extraction and using a DNA Sequencer to determine the make up of the organism. But the DNA sequencer is not available in Nigeria. The only place they have it is at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) but it is not for commercial use." "Before I started this research, I took permission from the Lagos State Health Service Commission to access patients with fungal infections. They made me promise that I would give them a copy of the thesis so I hope with it they will review the method they are using." Seeking more financial support for doctoral students, Dr Samuel who lectures in the Department of Botany urged government to provide an enabling environment for research. "PhD is not something you can achieve with a million naira. It is very expensive. I used all my salary and my husband had to take a loan for me. I was sending my samples to Maryland, United States because there is no DNA Sequencer in Nigeria. I packed it in an ice rack and sent
• Dr Olusegun Samuel and his wife, Temitope
by DHL and they would send me the results," she said. Like his wife, Dr Olusegun Samuel also invested heavily on his thesis studying the effect of heavy metals discharged by industries into the lagoon on periwinkles. "You start getting loans from all sorts of places to carry out research," he said. He looks forward to a time when the industry would sponsor research in Nigerian tertiary institutions which will ease the financial burden.
PHOTO: ISAAC AYODELE
From his experience working on his thesis: "Heavy Metal Contamination of Ologe Lagoon, Nigera and biomarkers of Oxidative Stress in Pachymelania Aurita", he said without support of industry and government monitoring their activities, researches will remain on the shelf. "In foreign countries, industry sponsors this kind of study because they want to know the impact of their activities on the environment. But in Nigeria industries don't want you
to come near them because they feel they will be indicted. If you go there with letters they refuse to open their doors. Those things make you start changing the orientation of your research. Since I couldn't get the effluent from a particular company I visited, I decided to look at the heavy metals in surrounding waters," he said. Samuel, who is an eco-toxicologist in the Department of Marine Sciences, added that when industry backs research, it would create employment for various experts. He said: "If the industry sponsors research, they will know whether their in-house treatment of waste water is effective and what to do about it. The process of managing their effluent will create jobs. They must employ a chemical engineer to design the treatment stages; a microbiologist will check the kind of microbes that will act on the waste, while an eco-toxicologist will check whether the treatment is effective."
Obasanjo’s most inspiring letter to me, by Afe Babalola
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HOUGH his relationship with former President Olusegun Obasanjo has spanned decades, the legal icon and proprietor of Afe Babaloloa University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe babalola, has never had his long time friend rain encomiums on him. Aare Babalola had invited Chief Obasanjo to his conferment of honorary Doctor of Law by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) during its Golden Jubilee Convocations on Friday last week. Aare Babalola, was Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of UNILAG between 2001 and 2008 during which he won the best Pro-Chancellor and Governing Council Chairman award from the National Universities Commission (NUC) twice. Obasanjo could not make it to last Friday's convocation as the day coincided with the launch of his foundation - Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation - in London. However, what shocked Aare Babalola was a letter of acknowledgement sent to him and signed by Obasanjo. "Of all my years of relationship and interactions with him (Obasanjo), I have never received such commendation. This letter, I must confess, made me feel highly honoured, and I want the world to see it," Aare Babalola told this reporter. The letter made available to this reporter reads: "It is my great delight that I received the news of the decision of the authorities of the University of Lagos to honour you with the doctorate degree of the university at its Golden Jubilee anniversary celebrations. This is, indeed, very good news and I write to felicitate with you on this worthy recognition. No doubt, it is an honour well deserved.
UNILAG should watch out, if not… AARE Afe Babalola has cautioned the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to work hard to achieve its mission to be named among the best 100 in the world or risk being overtaken by the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), the university he founded, in the nearest future. Speaking after he was conferred with the Doctor of Law (honoris causa) last Friday, Babalola said it was one of his missions as ProChancellor of the university between 2001 and 2008. He urged the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Rahamon Bello to build on his efforts as Pro-Chancellor to raise funds for the institution to improve the academic environment and research. "When I was here I built an auditorium and called my friends to donate money. You have to continue with my drive to raise funds for the university if not ABUAD will over-
By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie
take you to be among the best 100 in the world," he said. As Pro-Chancellor, Babalola used to donate his sitting allowances to the university endowment fund which he started. At the event, Babalola also announced the endowment of N10 million to be used to award scholarships worth N500,000 each to a worker and student who shows leadership traits annually. He said: "I want to reiterate my commitment to the development of this university. In the first term of my tenure, I ordered that all my allowances should be paid into an account maintained by the university. The money was in the first term turned over to Endowment Fund. All my allowances for the second term still remain in that account, I understand that they still
have about N3million in the account. I intend to issue a cheque of N10 million to include the N3 million, which is in the account to be paid to Stanbic Bank in the name of Afe Babalola Endowment Fund for the University of Lagos in perpetuity. "The capital of N10 million will yield interest of more than N1million only. This amount of N1million accruing from the interest should be utilised as follows: (a) The sum of N500,000 as award to the best staff whether academic or nonacademic who has shown great leadership traits in the discharge of his duties;(b) The sum of N500,000 as award to the best student whether undergraduate or postgraduate who has shown great leadership traits in his relations with other students and or in his interactions and relationships with the university community as a whole." •Babalola
By Adegunle Olugbamila
"My dear chief, being quite familiar with your abilities and achievements, I have no doubt this nomination is in recognition of your immense contributions and commitment to education and national development. I can testify that this award is well earned, more so by your contributions to the development of the University of Lagos when you placed it on a very high pedestal of administration and academics, to various facets of our country's life and the role you have played and you continue to play in the legal profession as well as the political devel-
opment of our great country. "I personally thank you for the support you gave me for the success of my administration and for the establishment of the Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), which emerged from your involvement in the University of Lagos. "To generations of youths, who have been directly moulded one way or the other, you are a role model; you are an example and symbol of what the young people could achieve with commitment to hard work and the pursuit of excellence. You are a reference point for distinction, diligence and devotion to duty as a great reformer which makes me proud.
Your winning the much-coveted Best Pro-Chancellor and Governing Council award for 2005 from the NUC clearly attests to the professional, mature, forward-looking and innovative ways in which you have managed the affairs of the university as the Pro-Chancellor of the institution at that time, to the extent that the university rose from its unenviable state to become one of the shining examples in the African continent. "Before now, I was convinced that your place in the Hall of Fame was assured as one of the men who can genuinely be described as benefactors of mankind for your enormous
contributions and for making the world a happier place. It is thus not surprising that you have been conferred with so many honours by institutions across Nigeria and Africa, among which is the Commander of the Order of Niger (CON) by the Nigerian government. It is my expectation that this recognition will spur you to greater heights in your service to Ekiti State in particular, and Nigeria in general and beyond "On behalf of my family and my own, I wish to congratulate you most heartily as you accept the recognition that is being given to you by the University of Lagos.”