Christopher University, Mowe achieves a milestone with the hosting of the second (2nd) International Annual Conference of the Social and Management Scientists Forum from 17TH-19TH August 2022 for the second year running. The maiden edition of the Conference was equally held on its campus exactly a year ago, precisely on 18th August 2021.
The thrust of the Conference was ‘Improvement of the National Gross Domestic Product through integrated sub-regional economies’. Therefore, the theme of this conference was ‘Linking Theory to Practice towards the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goals.
The Conference covers a whole range of topical and emerging issues in business fundamentals and practices, particularly in Nigeria and other sub-regional economies of West Africa. The volatility of the financial sector and its impact on the performance of the economy, as well as, the instability of the sub-regional trade and investments require urgent discussions on the way forward was the main goal. The research papers presented addressed issues relating to transnational trade models and demographic distribution, digital entrepreneurship and the growth and performance index of small and medium scale enterprises, building capacity in young African entrepreneurs, corporate governance failure, and loss of human and resource potentials of the African continent, to mention but just a few.
Christopher University, Mowe is proud to facilitate discussions on issues that have the potential of galvanizing a new social order and provide a blueprint for appropriate management practices that would foster positive economic development of African countries. The resource persons and facilitators were drawn from universities, industries, government agencies, and businesses from the informal sectors of the nation’s economy. The data generated from the presentations of over eighty peer-reviewed research papers at the different plenary will constitute the articles in the next edition of the University academic journal- The Christopher University Journal of Social and Management Scientists before the end of the year.
The Christopher University, Mowe entered into this research collaboration with the Social and Management Scientists Forum whose members cut across national and regional borders in order to establish a lasting synergy that will provide the platform for academics, industry professionals, and young scientists in Africa to present the outcomes of their research to international audience yearly, for discussions and peer review. The essence of this synergy is to strategically position Christopher University as a bureau of statistics for the generation and storage of research data as it relates to all aspects of the national and regional economy.
Christopher University, Mowe was licensed by the National Universities Commission in 2015 and currently has fifteen academic programmes and fifteen departments spread across four academic Schools. The University boasts of modern teaching and learning facilities and state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories for research. The University hopes to commence its Law degree programme by October 2022 having received final approval from the regulatory agencies. The University plans to introduce the Nursing programme at the beginning of the 2022/23 academic session while academic programmes such as Basic Medical Sciences, Engineering and Environmental, and Earth Sciences will come on stream towards the end of 2023.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oyelana Olatunji in his opening address at the event espoused the urgent need for tertiary institutions and the industry to jointly sponsor and fund research endeavors that would be focused primarily on the needs of our nation state. This will help facilitate the development and integration of local initiatives that would engender the rapid emergence of a locally adaptable set of techniques capable of galvanizing the rapid agricultural and industrial development that our continent so desires. The Vice-Chancellor alluded to the strategic positioning of Christopher University as the ‘credible alternative to public universities’ having created the platform that will ensure a solid base for high-impact research, the inflow of industry funds, and the constant engagement of industry experts and professionals as equals and joint stakeholders in proffering enduring business models for African states.
The Vice-Chancellor opined that our nation-state and Africa can only enjoy long and lasting industrial development when a robust triple-helix partnership is established between University-Government-Industry to jointly initiate, fund, and executive research that meets local and national aspirations. He further canvassed for a national research focus and agenda for our nation and advised the government to set the ball rolling by setting the right policies, facilitating discussions, and bringing together stakeholders to draw up the road map that will subsequently guide our national science education policy and research agenda.
In his closing remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oyelana Olatunji enjoined the officials of the Association and all participants to take advantage of the new facts that will emerge from discussions at plenary to build new body of knowledge and know-how, and also to encourage the formation of new interest groups that will promote deeper research collaborations between sister institutions. He hoped that the outcomes from the Conference will provide excellent advocacy to government and stakeholders on a number of current issues about our economy and the social status of our nation-state. Concluding, the Vice-Chancellor advocated for a one-day workshop on research and grant writing to always precede the yearly Conference so as to build capacity in young scientists and academics. The conference ended with a joint communiqué on the essence of keying into global best practices in the management of our natural and human resources to enable us as a nation to compete effectively with developed nations.
