TWO lecturers from the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, have won a $2,496,128 million research grant together with colleagues from some other universities including University of Waterloo, Canada and some non-governmental organisations.
Professor Shehu Akintola and Dr Kafayat Fakoya, both of the Department of Fisheries of LASU, are the only two scholars from Nigeria on the team.
Their winning proposal submitted at the 2019 competition of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada, is ‘Vulnerability to viability: Global partnership for building strong small-scale fisheries communities’.
Professor Akintola told Tribune Education that SSHRC is the federal research funding agency of the Canadian government designed to promote and support post-secondary research and research training in the humanities and social sciences.
He said a scholar from the University of Waterloo, Dr. Prateep Nayak, is the lead applicant of the winning entry, while he and his female colleague from LASU were co-applicants.
The research work, according to him, will be carried out on a group basis with members of each team from 30 universities, seven government and research institutions, and 14 non-governmental organisations to positively impact the small-scale fisheries in their local communities.
“Our work will critically examine factors and conditions that are contributing to the vulnerability of the small-scale fisheries to enhance their viability; and we shall do this in conjunction with key actors in the sector, locally,” he explained.
While pointing out that the word ‘viability’ in this context is not only about economy but encompassing to include social, political, and ecological aspects of the small scale fisheries, he said the research work would last seven years.
Earlier in a statement by LASU’s spokesman, Mr Ademola Adekoya, the vice chancellor of the university, Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, commended the two scholars for winning the grant and urged them to optimally utilise it to solve identified problems.