WACREN calls for national policy on open science deployment in Nigerian varsities

The West and Central African Research Education Network (WACREN) has called for national policy, governance, and institutional framework to support the deployment of open science in Nigerian universities.

Open science is the movement to make scientific research and its dissemination accessible to all levels of society, including  amateurs and professionals.

Omo Oaiya, WACREN chief strategy officer, spoke in Abuja on Monday during the Libsense national workshop.

The workshop was focused on priority setting and capacity building for university leadership, librarians, and university information communication technology (ICT) directors.

Oaiya said all is set to kickstart the implementation of open science at the national level and across universities in the country.

He called for reform in research approaches, emphasising the crucial need for culture adaptation that links academic research to the immediate needs of their environment.

The WACREN chief stated that early career researchers drawn from various Nigerian universities alongside their counterparts from the West African region developed advocacy reports that created further awareness of open science.

Oaiya disclosed that WACREN is showcasing Nigeria as one of the leading countries in the region.

“So we brought researchers together here in Abuja to see how it is done here. The National Informant Institute of Japan has an infrastructure solution that we believe can solve the problem,” he said.

“Through the conversations with the Committee of Vice Chancellors, Association of ICT Directors, and librarians, we have deliberated on institutionalising open science on campuses.”

He identified research data management and information sharing capacity as major deficit areas universities are facing.

He said higher institutions in the region lack sufficient capacity to coordinate information sharing on research on a national basis.

Oaiya hinted that the Nigerian community has successfully created plans mitigating against the challenges of data research.

Kathleen Shearer, the executive director at the Confederation of Open Access Repository, said there is a need to adopt formal policies to institutionalise open science in Nigeria.

Shearer said proper infrastructure needs to be put in pace to convince researchers to adopt the system and record progress in their research.

“Open science will improve the quality of research and make it available to all Nigerians. But there has to be a formal policy introduced either at the national level or institutional level,” he said.