CSIR urges gov't to prioritize R&D

Dr Abdulai Baba Salifu, Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has called on government to invest in Research and Development (R&D) and make it a priority in the national scheme of resource allocation.

He explained that investment in R&D was imperative for economic growth and national development, and that, government should not leave that to private initiatives or external funding interests, since the interests of these external donors might not necessarily coincide with the national interests.

Dr Salifu said this when he commissioned a new two-storey building office complex for the Science Technology and Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) of the CSIR.

The building, which has 24 office rooms and conference room facilities, cost Ghc84 million and was funded mainly from Internally Generated Fund (IGF) and donor support.

The CSIR Director-General expressed concern about the continues dwindling of government’s subvention resulting in virtually no Government of Ghana funding for research, and called on the CSIR Institutes to consider working hard to commercialize its products for funds to sustain the R&D they embark on.

“In fact, in 2012, about 98 per cent of the Government of Ghana subvention received by CSIR-STEPRI represented compensation for employees and 2 per cent for goods and services, which went completely into administration. There was no funding released for research and infrastructural development,” he added.

He entreated all the CSIR Institutes to substantially increase their IGF to help them support R&D and promote technology and Innovation.

He commended STEPRI for using its IGF judiciously by putting up the office building and urged the other CSIR Institutes to emulate it.

Dr George Owusu Essegbey, Director of STEPRI, said the Institute was striving to be a leading policy research institute for science, technology and innovation in Africa, "and that needs good teamwork, cohesion and support to succeed."

He said STEPRI will do all it could to make an impact in the policy cycles of the nation “so that, science, technology and innovation will accelerate development for our people”.