The Director of Research and Development at the University of Calabar, Prof. Bassey Okon has asked the federal government to allocate 26 percent to the education sector in the annual budget to fund research in tertiary institutions.

He made the call at a two-day workshop organized by the Directorate of Research and Development in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) on the theme; ” Writing Fundable Research Proposal”.

He asked the government to accord priority to education by increasing the budgetary allocation to the sector to enhance the quality of research and development in the country.

He said although the government has tried in providing grants for universities to fund research in the country, such efforts are not sufficient.

”Government needs to do the basic things of meeting the sustainable development goals of allocating 26 per cent of the annual budget on education to cover lots of things, including research.

“But to a large extent, the government is doing well in funding research but needs to do more.”

Prof. Okon said the essence of the workshop was to sharpen the proposal writing skills of academic staff in the institution in such a manner that they will be able to attract more grants to the University.

While urging academics to redouble efforts at writing good proposals for research grants, he said attracting more grants would help in improving the University’s ranking, visibility and internally generated revenue.

The Director in a paper presentation on the topic; ‘Grant Budgeting and Management, said there are so many grant opportunities for researchers and the best way to secure research grants is to present a good and sellable proposal.

The workshop also featured paper presentations by other erudite scholars including, Prof. Mbe Nja, Prof. Chris C. Chukwurah, Prof. Ajayi Omoogun and Mr. Yohanna Joseph Waliya.