为什么非洲政府承诺减少研发资金

[阿布贾，尼日利亚]非洲人governments’ lowfunding会议听说，对研究的分配是整个大陆的发展祸根。

Africa’s funding ofresearch and development (R&D), which is estimated to be 0.45 per cent of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), remains far below the global average of 1.70 per cent, the meeting noted.

上个月在尼日利亚举行的非洲科学学院的第13届年度会议（11月14日至16日）为政策制定者和科学家提供了一个平台evaluatethe low R&D funding situation. The participants included science academies from countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.

“鉴于其他竞争需求，任何政府都不会准备将这种资金分配给研发。”

Umar Bindir, Adamawa State Government

Umar Bindir, former director-general, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, Nigeria, said that African governments are unwilling to meet the R&D target funding of at least one per cent of GDP.

尼日利亚阿达马瓦州政府秘书Bindir解释说：“鉴于其他竞争需求，任何政府都不会将这种资金分配给研发。”

“研究人员的最佳选择是回到the drawing board and begin to think of how they can use their statutory allocations from governments to raise their internally generated revenue profile and come up with research that address government needs for patronage,” he added.

但是尼日利亚生物技术学会主席本杰明·乌比（Benjamin Ubi）表示，进行优质研究所需的资金水平仍然超出了大学的产生。

尼日利亚科学技术部长特纳·伊森（Turner Isoun）表示，非洲科学家未能吸引政府的资金，因为他们不了解政府的运作方式，并专注于专业。

Peter Onwualu, visiting professor at the Department of Material Science and Engineering, the Africa University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria, noted that the inability of scientists to connect to government政策is responsible for the low funding and piles of research proposals on university shelves.

David Bakibinga, secretary-general, Uganda National Academy of Sciences, added: “We need to look out for the needs of our people. The academia [need] to engage with organisations and stakeholders outside academic institutions to ensure research addresses the common needs of mankind for governments to consider them as necessary allies in development.”

南非科学学院副主席Barney Pityana表示，科学院应通过确保领导政府的发展计划来帮助他们获得足够的资金来重新考虑其角色。

这件作品由Scidev.net的撒哈拉以南非洲英语桌子制作。