By Abdulrahman Abdullahi
Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos, has won a grant from the European union for Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
This was disclosed by Mrs Nonye Oguama, a Principal Assistant Registrar, Corporate Affairs of the institution, in a statement on Saturday in Lagos.
The awards funded by European union are part of the 2021 Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) Programme, Oguama explained.
Ogundipe, a Professor of Botany, won a national level grant of €38,000 for his project proposal.
The project titled, “Implementation of the Biodiversity Information and Data System for Coastal Ecosystem in Nigeria”.
Meanwhile, Botanist Dr Temitope Onuminya, also won another grant.
Onuminya who received 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.