LAWRENCE EDET NSA - St Clements University

African Cocoa Research Institute in Ibadan. The sub-regional
research stations became full-fledged Research Institutes
following the independence of Ghana in 1957. Prior to
independence, Ghana was the sub-regional headquarters of
the research centres.
The first parliamentary consideration to research activities in
Nigeria was in 1964 when the Agricultural Research Institute
Act was enacted. Within the same year, an international
conference on the Organization of Research and Training in
Africa was held (Aluko-Olokun, 1999: 139-48). The outcome
of the conference was the resolution for national governments
to constitute National Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research. Consequently, in 1966 the then Military
Government enacted Decree No. 83 establishing the Nigerian
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (NCSIR).
The decree establishing the NCSIR was structurally defective
and weak as the Council lacked executive powers and could
only offer advisory services. The mandate of the Council did
not cover basic sciences, agricultural and medical research
(Aluko-Olokun, 1999: 139-48). This structural weakness
invariably meant that not much could be achieved. It equally
laid the foundation for the progressive poor performance of
research institute for over three decades.
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