Janet Ogundepo The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Prof John Obafunwa, has pleaded with the Federal Government to extend the 50 per cent electricity subsidy given to tertiary institutions and government hospitals to the institute. He emphasised that the institute should benefit from the cut, noting that it conducted medical research whose outcomes were mostly used in universities and teaching hospitals. Obafunwa stated this in an interview with journalists at NIMR’s two-day end-of-year retreat held in the institute recently.
The pathologist said, “I discussed with my former supervising minister (former Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa) for us to be given some considerations with regards to this so called policy of reduction by 50 per cent granted to hospitals and tertiary institutions, for that to be extended to NIMR. “NIMR doubles up, to some extent, providing tertiary education. Some universities send students here for Industrial attachment.
Some would come and say they want to spend some time as interns so we are involved in teaching. A number of our staff are adjunct lecturers and professors in some universities and we conduct medical research. “So we are not too far from what is going on within the teaching hospitals because the product of what we do here is what would be applied, to some extent, in universities and teaching hospitals.
We should also be in a position to benefit from the 50 per cent b.