Don Links Africa, Nigeria Varsities’ Failure To Top World Ranking To Research Inefficiency

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Engr. (Dr) Hilary Ijeoma Owamah

An internationally renowned researcher and scholar,  Engr. (Dr) Hilary Ijeoma Owamah, has attributed the failure of African Universities to be ranked top among world universities to inefficiency in research work.

According to him, the inability of lecturers to engage in novel research work and publish same in reputable journals with recognized global database is the main reason why University in Africa are not ranked top among other global institutions.

Owamah spoke at the second Faculty of Engineering Seminar Series/Send-Off ceremony of eminent Engineer, Prof. P. A. Kuale held at the Oleh Campus of the Delta State University.

Speaking on the topic entitled; “Improving the Global Ranking of Nigerian Universities by doing First Thing First,”  Dr Owamah pointed out that International University ranking is now an inescapable reality for all University.

He said that international ranking is one of criteria used to measure the performance of Universities all over the world and used for measurement of global competitiveness.

“The idea behind “first thing first” is to prioritize important things first instead of urgent things, so that Nigerian Universities can come up in the global ranking ladder…

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“As a matter of first thing first, African Universities and Nigerian Universities in particular must begin to aim for quality and reputation in her publications and begin to deemphasize quantity as it takes us nowhere”.

Citing numerous authorities and reputable authors to drive home his point, the University Don disclosed that only a few universities in South Africa regularly makes the top 500 of the world ranking bodies.

He however regreted that it was only in 2016 that University of Ibadan, Nigeria made it to the 601st to 800th position in the world ranking.

The speaker emphasised that research is not complete until its findings are published in dedicated outlets such as scholarly journals, books, reports, conferences, seminars, e.t.c.

The international award winning researcher, observed that Universities in the country lacks visibility and reputation because a lot of Nigerians don’t publish their work in reputable outlet.

“Researchers are publishing actively in predatory journals and still clamour to be ranked by the world as one of the 500 or 1000 universities.

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“While visibility and reputation come from publishing in reputable outlet, publishing in predatory outlets demeans and keep a researcher in academic darkness, he emphasized.

“The predatory publishers are exploitative open access publishers, publishing articles with little or no real peer review…..Doing first thing first requires that we flee from predatory journals/publications,” Dr. Owamah stressed.

He however thanked the Vice-Chancellor of the Delta State University Abraka, Prof. Victor F. Peretomode, for finding him worthy to be appointed as an Academic Staff of the University and for appointing him the Ag. HOD (Civil Engineering), a short while after his assumption of duty.

He extoled the leadership qualities of the VC and described him as man that preaches, recognises, values and practices excellence in all things.

Dr Owamah said he will continue to do his best in fulfilment of the yearnings of the VC of improving the quality of publications from Delta State University and her position in global ranking.

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