Boost research funding, urges PM

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has urged governments to increase funding for research at institutions of higher learning to boost development in Africa.

Mr Odinga said it was time governments allocated more resources into research to tackle poverty, hunger and disease, which were ravishing populations on the continent.

He said universities should put emphasis on teaching entrepreneurial skills to enable students to create job opportunities for themselves after graduating from the institutions.

“Africa is a rich continent in resources but the mediocrity of the leadership since independence has slowed down development and left the people to languish in poverty, disease and hunger,” said Mr Odinga.

The PM spoke when he officially opened an annual international conference at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

The theme of the conference is: ‘Action Research in Higher Education and Development in Africa’.

Mr Odinga said universities, through their researches, should strive to come up with solutions to the myriad of challenges facing the continent.

He said researchers in Africa should find ways of treating and managing cancer, high blood pressure and other lifestyle diseases.