The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) would continue to make efforts at ensuring that it remains among the topmost educational institutions engaged in cutting-edge research.
NOUN’s Director of Media and Publicity, Ibrahim Sheme, in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said Prof. Abdalla Adamu, Vice-Chancellor of the university disclosed this during the unveiling of Olusegun Obasanjo Centre for African Studies (OOCAS).
According to him, the Centre, formerly known as the Olusegun Obasanjo Centre for Good Governance, was redesigned to widen its scope to meet with happenings in the contemporary society.
Adamu added that the newly revamped center for African Studies also aimed to create more avenues for research in Nigerian institutions and Africa as a whole.
He said the Centre was opened to collaboration with local and international scholars willing to dissect Africa towards the goal of producing cutting-edge research that would showcase the African story.
The statement also revealed that the Director of OOCAS, Prof. Stanley Ngoa, said that the centre has already swung into action, with various collaborations with research bodies within and outside the country.
Ngoa said the key areas of focus for the OOCAS include African Leadership and Development, Food Security and Agricultural Research, Health in Rural Nigeria; Infant and Maternal Mortality, among others..
Those involved in the centre include; former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as a visiting scholar, veteran journalist Ray Ekpu and a former minister of national planning, Dr Shamsudeen Usman.
Others are Prof. Baz Dreisinger, the founder of the Prison to College Pipeline in the United States, Prof. Toyin Falola, a reputable authority on African Studies, as well as other reputable scholars in different fields of endeavour.
(NAN)