20th March, 2021
By Chinyere Nwachukwu/Lagos
The Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has won the 2021 Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) grant.
Mrs Nonye Oguama, a Principal Assistant Registrar, Corporate Affairs of the institution, made the disclosure in a statement on Saturday in Lagos.
Botanist Dr Temitope Onuminya, also won another grant.
According to Oguama, the awards are part of the 2021 Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) programme, funded by the European Union.
Ogundipe, a Professor of Botany, won a national level grant of €38,000 for his project proposal.
It is titled “Implementation of the Biodiversity Information and Data System for Coastal Ecosystem in Nigeria”.
Onuminya, on the other hand, won an institutional level grant of €18,850 for implementation of a BID project proposal.
It has the theme “Expanding the Visibility of the Lagos Herbarium through Digitisation and Mobilisation of Plant Specimen Data”.
”The university of Lagos is rejoicing with them (mentor and mentee) and wishes them successful implementation of their proposals,” Oguama said.
The GBIF, an international organisation with Secretariat in Copenhagen, focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available through the internet.
It provides human resources and technical infrastructure enabling publication and access to large volumes of data gathered over centuries about the earth’s species.