LASU Research Team Wins LASRIC Sargassum Research Grant Worth N5M

ACJ-LASU 

A team of two researchers including a Ph.D. student of Project Management identified as Micheal Fagbohun, has won a five million naira (N5,000,000) research grant from the Lagos State Science, Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC).

The trio, who won the grant for their research proposal on "The Development and Production of Bio-Plastic from Sargassum Seaweed towards Circular Economy in Nigeria," were led by Blessing Nwatulegwu and supervised by a Professor of Project Management, Prof. Ibrahim Olateju.

This information was made known via a post shared on the official page of the Lagos State University on Wednesday, 14th of December, 2022. 

According to this post seen by ACJ-LASU, the team leader, Blessing Nwatulegwu while explaining their reason for the research interest in Sargassum, noted that because Nigeria was in danger as a result of thousands of non-degradable waste plastics being dumped around yearly, worsening land pollution; she believed the problem can be solved by producing plastics from degradable Sargassum Seaweed, rather than petroleum products.

Moreover, as the team and the prize money were being presented to the LASU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, mni, on Wednesday, by the Distinguished Professor of the University and former Director of the Centre of Excellence for Sargassum Research (CESR), Prof. Martin Anetekhai, the latter appreciated the school management for empowering and equipping CESR to support such a multidisciplinary research effort that won the grant. 

Prof. Anetekhai disclosed that the CESR was currently working on several multidisciplinary research on the sargassum value chain. 

In reaction to the presentation of the awardees and the Sargassum team at the LASU Senate Building, the Vice Chancellor represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Prof. Adenike Boyo, congratulated the winners, assuring them that the administration would continue to provide an enabling environment and infrastructure to pursue more research and collaborations in future.