WHEN the President of International Development Research Centre (IDRC), David Malone, came to Nigeria earlier this month, it was more than a visit to highlight the various projects and achievements of the body, which is an important arm of Canadian government's aid programme.Malone's first visit to Nigeria in 1967 at the age of 16 during the civil war was very eventful. He and his diplomat parents landed in Nigeria in that year to the pandemonium of Biafran army's rumoured closeness to Lagos. He joined in the melee of running back into the plane that took him, his parents and others into the country.While he recalled that the event of the first visit was terrifying, the Canadian diplomat and newspaper columnist laughed the scenario off during a courtesy first to The Guardian's Head Office, Rutam House, Lagos, as the leader of a delegation from IDRC headquarters in Canada. The delegation also included Regional Director, West and Central Africa, Kathryn Toure, and was supported by Canadian High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Chris Cooter.Nigeria now, the IDRC helmsman agreed, has in deed undergone transformation after the episode of the civil war. The visitor, among others, took cognisance of the network of roads that took him from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja to Rutam House, Isolo.Before Malone and his delegation dwelled on how IDRC supports and funds research-based projects in Nigeria and other developing countries to help policymakers, people and governments in areas of promotion of growth and development, he took time to explain his friendship and working relations with some Nigerians.He described how he met General Joe Garba as a schoolmate; his working relationship with Ibrahim Gambari, who was his boss at the United Nations Headquarters; his friendship with another Nigerian, Ade Adebanjo and finally, admiration for Chief Emeka Anyaoku on the manner he discharged his duties as secretary-general of Commonwealth.Malone's experience during the Nigerian civil war, association with the notable Nigerians and enthusiasm about the projects of IDRC in Nigeria must have actually wet his eagerness to return to Nigeria and also visit Ghana from May 5 to May 12. And surprisingly, all these were vividly indicated in his reminiscence during the courtesy call on the top management and editorial members of The Guardian as part of the four-day visit to Nigeria.Cooter, in his remarks while introducing the visiting team, explained that the IDRC dwell more on researches rather than physical projects because it was discovered that lack of quality data is the bane of development in developing nations. 'If you don't have correct facts and figure, how do you develop'' the Canadian High Commissioner queried.Malone, who also has served as president of International Peace Academy in New York as well as Canada's ambassador to United Nations and representative on the UN's Economic and Social Council and many other bodies, revealed that his trip to Africa was an opportunity for the IDRC to reaffirm Canada's commitment to development in West Africa and Central Africa. He also disclosed that the IDRC, created in 1970 by Parliament of Canada, has since 1971 contributed in improving health system, developing sound, national economic and environmental policies through funding of significant researches and capacity for such researches in Nigeria and other developing countries.According to the IDRC chief, the body always encourages researchers of its funded projects in three areas ' agriculture and environment, health and health systems, education and social and economic policy ' to ventilate the outcomes of such research projects among policymakers, other researchers, and communities around the world through a term he called 'socialising the evidence.'Specifically, the centre has carried out over 60 activities worth CA$14 million in Nigeria since 1971 in helping pregnant women and their babies get better medical care in states like Cross River, enabling Nigeria women defend their rights, small farmers adapt to climate change, rural communities halt soil erosion and flooding, among others.The centre, in conjunction with Canadian International Food Security Research Fund, is currently funding a CA$2.9 million project to create better vegetable-growing opportunities for Nigeria women through four universities. The project is studying 10 varieties of local vegetables in the South West of Nigeria to assess their nutritional content, drought tolerance and disease-resistance. The goal of the project is to provide tools for better production, processing and marketing of these vegetables to enhance food security, economic growth and conservation of valuable vegetable species to help empower rural women.The IDRC, Malone and his team further explained, is supporting 52 institutions from 23 countries out of 600 applications from East and West Africa, Latin America and South Asia as part of its Think Tank Initiative. Out of these institutions, IDRC, with support from other bodies, is funding four Nigerian Think Tanks ' Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE), Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) and Centre for Population and Environmental Development (CPED).On the use of local think tanks, Malone explained that public policies work best when they are designed and implemented by local actors, adding that without locally generated information and analysis, well-intentioned programmes are unlikely to meet local needs.The team also revealed how IDRC manages the Canadian government's CA$20 million investment that will establish five African Institute for Mathematical Sciences-Next Einstein Initiative (AIMS) centres in Africa by 2015. Malone revealed that AIMS-Ghana, slated to open later in the year, is part of the project.The visitors showed interests in the Nigeria media's operations, recruitment, training and readership segmentations. They also drilled members of The Guardian's team, who received them, led by the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mr. Alexander Thomopoulus; Managing Director and Editor-In- Chief, Mr. Emeka Izeze; Editor, The Guardian (Daily) and Deputy Editor-In- Chief, Mr. Debo Adeshina; Acting Editor, Saturday, Mr. Felix Abugu and others, about the management's media focus and objectives.However, Izeze and Adeshina, who jointly explained the vision, mission and goals of The Guardian, pledged to contact the four think-tanks to know how the newspaper's stable can assist in disseminating the findings of their research projects that IDRC is supporting and funding.
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