Magnus Eze, Enugu
Vice Chancellor of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Prof. Luke Anike, has said that Nigeria has many lessons to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world.
Anike, who spoke at the unveiling of hand sanitisers produced by the university’s Biotechnology Research Centre, yesterday, said the situation has brought out the ingenuity in Nigerians, making people to look inwardly for local solutions.
He said the institution had submitted proposals to the state government indicating areas it could intervene in containing the pandemic.
“We are doing this in order to help the state and the nation. Our Biotechnology Research Centre told me that they could do something beginning from producing hand sanitisers. We hope to produce this in large numbers so that even when the lockdown is over and our students return to campus, we would be able to distribute it to our students and staff. So, this is our own contribution to community service,” the VC said.
Director of the biotechnology centre, Prof. Floretta Tasie, explained that the sanitisers were produced according to World Health Organisation’s specification by a team of experts from the university.
She said researchers from the university used 75 per cent of isopropyl alcohol, glycerine, hydrogen peroxide, lemon fragrance and CMC for the production even as he condemned the use of methanol by people in producing sanitisers because of its cancerous nature.
Tasie added that the centre was poised to go into various researches such as biogas and food production, including mushroom, which she said the lockdown had affected due to unavailability of raw materials.
She, therefore, called on wealthy people and corporate organisations to support the university go into these researches as it held greater benefits to the society.