Commissioner wants academics, researchers to equip govts with data-driven researches

Prof. Akin Abayomi, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, on Tuesday urged academicians and science researchers to provide and equip decision makers with data-driven researches on health and environment sectors.

Abayomi made this appeal as the Keynote Speaker at the fourth annual international workshop organised by the U.S. – West Africa Atlantic Coastal Resilience Research Consortium (CRCC) on Tuesday in Lagos.

The CRCC partnered with the Lagos State University Centre for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development (CESSED), Centre for Sargassum Research and Centre for the Actualisation of  Sustainable Development.

The theme of the Workshop was: “Harnessing the Blue and Marine Economy in Support of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.”

The commissioner said that detailed data from researchers and academicians was very important, because environmental data predicted clinical manifestation.

“Government is totally dependence on the intelligence of academicians because you spend most of your time within the four walls of the university.

“There are a lot of researches we need to in order to know what is happening which will influence the way we think in adaptation and resilience, when making critical decisions.

“Data has now become the new currency in the knowledge economy,” Abayomi said.

He added that humans impact the physical environment in many ways, such as over-population, pollution, burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

“Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality and undrinkable water.

“One health recognises the inter-connectivity between man, animals, plant and their shared environment.

“Lagos, for example, is a complex narrative of water bodies and changing demographic dynamics that requires strategic planning,” the Commissioner said.

He noted that the contribution of coastal ecosystem and ocean to the economy included livelihood, climate change mitigation such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity support and coastal protection.

“The state of our ocean and coastal ecosystem in Nigeria and Africa involves sea level rise is colliding with population explosion,” Abayomi said.

Prof. Jimmy Adegoke, Chairman and Co-Convener of CRCC, said that there were ecosystem linkages between the West African Coastal Region and the U.S., especially the eastern part.

Adegoke, a Nigerian-American Climate Scientist, said that the blue economy was a driving force which was receiving new cognition in Africa and the world.

“We need to discuss and provide support for the efforts of the blue economy in Nigeria which will help students, lecturers, researchers and policy makers,” he said.

In her opening remarks, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, Vice-Chancellor, LASU, said that the workshop was a power collaboration underscoring the urgency of its collective mission to address the challenges of coastal resilience in the face of climate change.

Olatunji-Bello, represented by Prof. Sunday Alawode, Dean, School of Communication Studies, LASU, said that the Blue and Marine Economy had humongous benefits to the global economy.

She noted that, however, despite the humongous benefits of the sector to the global economy, it also portended serious challenges in the areas of environmental conversation. (NAN)