61% Nigerians live below one dollar per day, says don

• Insists bio-scientists are key to economic recovery
A university teacher, Prof. Joseph Abayomi Olagunju yesterday disclosed that 61 percent of Nigerians still live below one dollar per day.

He spoke at the maiden Bioscience Annual Conference, organised by the College of Biosciences of the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Olagunju, who is the Dean of the Post Graduate School at the Lagos State University, lamented the high rate of poverty in Nigeria and Africa.

According to him, the reason the country’s poverty level is high is that some social variables that would have fostered its rapid development and economic growth were omitted during its development process.

He cited the variables to include, poverty reduction, inequality, unemployment, increasing population, education, health, housing and provision of essential social amenities.

He explained: “In this age and time when economies are increasingly based on knowledge, technology and information, biosciences and biotechnology are the major drivers.

He said bioscience applications in the country are still at the infancy stage, unlike in the developed countries

The Acting Vice-Chancellor of FUNAAB, Prof. Ololade Enikhuomehin said the conference provided a unique platform for research scientists and biosciences experts to share information.

He expressed the hope that the participants at the three-day conference would come up with ideas that would shape research and control policies in the sector.