By Godfrey AKON
As part of efforts to end plagiarism in Nigeria’s higher institutions, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, has commenced a process of digitising theses and projects in tertiary institutions.
Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, disclosed this at a workshop on thesis digitization project for beneficiary institutions in Abuja.
“We want to dematerialise and electronic theses and projects by starting with thesis at PhD and master’s levels across our beneficiary institutions and we hope we extend it to the private institutions.
” The idea is simple; the world has gone digital. We cannot continue to operate analogue. We know that a number of materials from theses at postgraduate level and even undergraduate have literally disappeared.
” Where there are fire incidents, physical papers are burnt and the theses gone. But if we are able to dematerialise them and they are stored in different forms in different repositories, it will be easier to access and the protection of the materials is guaranteed…..
“It will also assist us in checking plagiarism. That is a major benefit for digitalisation. We want to avoid and discourage, and indeed stop plagiarism by researchers at any level.”
While saying the decision of TETFund to fund digitalization of thesis would also shore up ranking of universities and other tertiary institutions in the country, Bogoro expressed serious concern on the issue of plagiarism in higher institutions .
“If you want to reproduce the outcome of a particular work and you want to claim it. You know that it is unacceptable and a criminal act, even though you are a professor, you can lose your title as a professor, if it is confirmed you plagiarized,” the TETFund boss posited.
Speaking further, Bogoro said the workshop was to bring together Librarians, Directors of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Desk Officers to address key issues on collective academic research output by bringing ICT and digitization to bear.
“With the unprecedented backing of our President, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR and commitment of our Honourable Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu’s, as well as synergy with partners, such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Council for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the paradigm shift agenda of the Fund has resulted in the elevation of R&D and innovation to the top of the national discourse, but this discourse must be followed with concrete action,” he said.
