The Director General of the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Prof. Babatunde Salako, has urged the federal government to consider paying electricity bills for all its agencies or negotiate a lower rate with distribution companies.
Acknowledging that research plays a big role in nation development, he said it would help such agencies and training institutes where students are being moulded and research carried out for development.
He said NIMR spends between N10million and N12 million monthly on electricity bills to avoid data loss, adding that uninterrupted electricity supply was important in storing samples and preserving reagents.
Speaking with Daily Trust after the official establishment of NIMR Foundation in Lagos, Salako said the institute used between 10,000 and 15,000 litres of diesel and inverters as backup power supply.
“We need all these for storing our samples. If electricity can go anytime and the freezers do not have backup support, the samples can become useless. When the samples are not stored under the required temperature, when they are analysed, the result will not be accurate.
