By Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has organised a one-day refresher training for younger scientists at the institute.
Christened, “Towards Effective Research and Development in IAR”, the training was declared open today at Tanimu Balarabe Conference Hall, Institute for Agricultural Research, by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kabiru Bala.
The Vice-Chancellor, who was represented at the occasion by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Prof. Danladi A. Ameh, described the training as timely and commended the research institute for putting together the event.
Prof. Bala, who stressed that agriculture as a discipline remained the University’s strength, explained that knowledge transfer to the younger ones was part of mentorship.
He said that it was appropriate for senior academics to mentor the younger ones through knowledge transfer at a training session such as this, noting that leadership without succession was a failure.
In his address of welcome, the Executive Director, Institute for Agricultural Research Prof. M. I. Faguji, who gave an insight into the training programme, observed that there was dwindling standard in the way academic activities were being carried out.
Prof. Faguji stressed that the academic delivery level must be raised if the younger academics were to benefit effectively from the wealth of experience of the older ones.
According to the Executive Director, the theme of the training was chosen to address the mentorship lapses and boost the morale of the younger scientists, saying that the training would sharpen the skills of the scientists especially in the area of research.
Equally speaking, the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Prof. Mukhtar Mahmud, was of the belief that the participants would benefit immensely from the training given the wealth of experience of the resource persons.
Some of the resource persons included Prof. Ado A. Yusuf, who would speak on “Sustaining Agricultural Development through Core Values: The Institute for Agricultural Research Perspective”; and Prof. E.B. Amans, who was picked to talk on “An Insight into the IAR-Faculty Relationship”.
Others were Prof. I.U. Abubakar, who was to speak on “Developing Research Questions and Hypothesis”; while Prof. L. Aliyu and Prof. Y. Oseni were billed to talk on “Selecting Appropriate Study Design and Methods.”
