Peoples Daily

At a recent research communication summit in Abuja, researchers and university dons bared their minds on the importance of communicating research works to the public, particularly policy makers. The summit, organised by the Kenya-based African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) and University of Nigeria Nsukka, under the main sponsorship of Katsina state Government, provided an opportunity for some research-minded university dons to put on 'parade' the research efforts of their universities which have remained largely unsung.

In his keynote address to the summit, Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema of Katsina state outlined three key problems of communicating research results to influence policies and promote development. These, according to Governor Shema, are "researchers' misperception of their audiences, policy-makers' unwillingness to look for research audience and the lack of adequate incentives for travelling the research-to-policy corridor."

He noted that "although there is a serious shortage of researchers and scientists in Africa, the greatest problem is the unwillingness of researchers to share their research results with relevant publics beyond their peers." He held that researchers must see their audiences as those people that can benefit from the new research results, including policy-makers, politicians, the media and ordinary people who are affected by the issues and subjects of their research.

The second problem, said Governor Shema, is the policy-makers' unwillingness to look for research evidence, adding that "policy-making is becoming increasingly whimsical and political in a negative sense." He said policy-makers are now hurried and tactical, more attracted to easy approaches.   The third problem is "part of the reason that many of our policy-makers do not demand research results for their work is that it takes more time, effort and money which does not bring rich dividends in the end."

The most spectacular presentation at the summit was The Paradox of our Times by Dr Ejike Oji, country representative and MD, IPAS. He used facts and numbers to paint a gory picture that Nigeria is a rich country but inhabited by poor people. He showed the poverty levels between the six geo-political zones, indicating that, though more money is apparently pumped into the north, the region largely remains poor with so many mouths to feed.

To buttress his point, he said at independence in 1960, Nigeria's population stood at 56 million at par with the United Kingdom. But 50 years later, Nigeria's population peaked at 152 million, while that of the UK virtually remains at 64 million. Besides, same research shows Nigeria to be among the highest in maternal mortality rate, ahead of Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic and Cameroon.

Hon. Njoki Ndung'u of Kenya spoke on evidence-based policy-making and advocacy and drew lessons from the Sexual Offenses Act she helped pass in Kenya Parliament. She showed to the audience how she shared the outcome of her research with stakeholders and deployed the power and reach of the media to sensitise Kenyans about the dangers of not passing the bill. It worked for her as she succeeded in passing the bill which is now an Act.

As for Michael Otieno, MD of Hill Knowlton in Kenya who presented a paper on how effective communication strategies can be used to influence public policy, he stressed how strategies can be formulated and how they become key to communication. He used some examples of how his company won awards based on the strategies the company employed to sensitise the public about their clients' business.            

Professor Michael Uguru, dean, Crop Science Department, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), enumerated some of the recent research efforts of the UNN to include: development of asbestos-free brake pads using periwinkle shells;   development of sound proof composite system using coconut fibre reinforced polymer material for noise protection; antidiabetic activities of the aqueous extract of acanthus montanus (acanthaceae) leaves; characterization and optimization of banana fibre reinforced composites for roofing panel applications. 

Others are the HIV screening among tuberculosis patients in Enugu State of Nigeria: the need for a change of strategy; fluoride contents of some Nigerian dentifrices; mobile detection pack for identification of fake, sub-standard and expired injections and exploring the solar capabilities in mimosa pudicadisinfectant from locally available raw material.

Professor Charles Okigbo, the first registrar of the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Communications Consultant-at-Large, in his presentation, urged governments to show interest in research and development and work hand in hand with universities to ensure that research results are adequately communicated. He praised the efforts of UNN in conducting research into various fields of human endeavour, citing the research efforts of Professor Njoku Obi (of the university) of cholera vaccine fame, among others.

Professor Ikechukwu Nwosu, dean, Faculty of Business Administration, UNN, in his presentation, remarked that data do not mean anything until they are interpreted, analysed and presented to give meaning to them. He added that research-based information/evidence must be properly disseminated with the right communication procedures or processes to "the right end-users, at the right time, in the right place, at the right cost and through the right media mix to be useful to society or humanity."

Nwosu noted that for research results to have the desired impact on corporate and national development, the end-users of the research-based information or evidence must be qualified, interested and ready to properly infuse them into corporate, media and national policies.

He stressed the need to prepare and disseminate research results to the target audience with accurately targeted communication methods; position and disseminate the research messages from the targeted policy-makers and media professionals' perspectives, needs and interests; penetrate the target audience and media adequately.

Speaking on 'University Research - Policy Linkage: Why the Problem Persists in Africa,' Professor Osita Ogbu of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, noted that it has been difficult to establish a cordial cooperation between the researcher and the policymaker because often the design of research ignores the potential user. He remarked that the research-problem is often defined & executed by the researcher - hence no buy-in by the policy-maker. Ogbu cautioned that initial buy-in was important but not enough; adding that the research process lacks constant interaction and feed back.

The respected economist argued that another hindrance to deployment or research in development is that the research may not key into the current agenda of government and fails to take advantage of emerging policy concerns, and the research may be too modest in scale to be noticed or to have any impact. Also the researcher might not anticipate nor articulate the various means of reaching the audience & the recruitment of knowledgeable and respected insiders (agents or guardians of change or, for that matter, the Kitchen Cabinet).

Chaacha Mwita of the APHRC underscores the importance of research knowledge translation and the importance of research in policy-making. He presented to the audience the Toolkit on how to do it step-step. Chaacha is of the APHRC in Keya.

Apparently, dissemination of research results to the right policy-makers and mass media remains a huge challenge to research and development and national growth in Nigeria and other African countries. Research communication is an important aspect of research. Research is as good as sharing its results with those who need to know. Policy-makers need to be aware of research efforts before they can be influenced to act on them. If no such communication takes place, at best research remains on the shelves of professors, and amounts to a mere waste of funds.

Isa Adamu wrote from Timex Communications, Prince and Princess Estate, Abuja.

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