ABU, Nagasaki Varsity Sign MoU On Tropical Diseases, Radiation Medicine
By Muhammad M. Isa
Ahmadu Bello University and Japan’s Nagasaki University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen research in tropical diseases and radiation medicine under the Africa Center of Excellence for Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology domiciled in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria.
Speaking at the ceremony, which took place at the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja in November, 2019, the commission’s Executive Secretary Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, said the MoU framework brought hope to Nigeria’s academic space since tropical diseases and radiation science are the current best areas of medicine globally.
Prof. Rasheed, who was represented by Deputy Executive Secretary in charge of Administration Dr. Bello Gidaddo Kumo, said adequate knowledge of tropical diseases remained a recurring deficiency in Nigeria’s academic curricular.
The Executive Secretary, who commended the two prominent universities for the research effort in this important discipline, urged Ahmadu Bello University to go extra miles to expand the activities of its center of tropical diseases and forensic biotechnology to become a training ground for Nigerian doctors and other medical professionals.
He said NUC had cause to send delegation to Sudan and Egypt in January this year to understudy leather technology and medical physics, especially radiation medicine which still remained an area yet to be fully explored in Nigeria.
Prof. Rasheed also said based on the NUC records it was only University of Lagos in
Nigeria that ran Master’s degree program in medical physics and that all hands must be on deck to ensure that such discipline and other related areas were run by most Nigerian universities for their significance to nation.
Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, expressed confidence that the collaboration between the two institutions would be of great benefits to humanity in general.
Prof. Garba, who explained that it took almost two years to perfect the MoU framework, also said ABU remained ready for collaboration with the Nagasaki University in other equally important disciplines.
In his remarks, the president of the Nagasaki University, Prof. Shigeru Kohno, said ABU was considered for the collaboration for its prominent history as a top level national university in Nigeria and also for its challenging activity in promoting education and research potential.
The Nagasaki University President expressed the hope that in the near future more and more students and scholars would exchange their knowledge and experience to brush up its capacity under the MoU framework.
The Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of his University while Prof. Shigeru Kohno signed for Nagasaki University under the watch of the National Universities Commission.
Soon after the MoU signing, some consignments of multi-flex machines were presented to Ahmadu Bello University through its Vice Chancellor Prof. Ibrahim Garba by Satoshi Kaneko, a Professor of eco-epidemiology at the institute of tropical medicine, Nagasaki University.