Give your ideas adequate exposure-Saka
By Abubakar Imam
The Director of the Centre for Laboratory to Product (LABTOP), University of Ilorin, Prof. Mohammed Jimoh Saka, has urged staff members and students of the University to always ensure that their ideas and talents are given adequate exposure for the benefit of mankind.
Prof. Saka gave this advice last Thursday (July 16, 2026) while speaking at the presentation of certificates to some staff members of the University who secured patents and copy right at the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research, Technology and Innovation). Eight certificates of patents and one copyright certificate were presented to the recipients at the event.
The Director explained that when ideas and concomitant products are given necessary exposure they would earn the owners immortality and wealth.
Prof. Saka, who teaches at the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, thanked the authorities of the University for always encouraging innovations and their subsequent commercialisation.
He explained that the University has become more respected because of the number of its staff members who are earning patents and copyrights.
He added that the number of the recipients has recorded significant increase over the years, particularly since the commencement of the Egbewole Administration, saying that the University has earned no fewer than 16 in the last three years.
In his remarks, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research, Technology and Innovation), Prof. Muhtair Adeiza Etudaiye, said that the number of patents and copyrights recorded by the University in recent times has shown that the University is working and not isolated.
Prof. Etudaiye also pointed out that the fact that the research breakthroughs recorded by the University is varied and important showed that the University is progressing.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, who teaches at the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, said that the certificates issued to the recipients are not just legal documents but also a significant attestation to their commitment to learning, research and human development.
He commended the academic staff of the University for not stopping at teaching, saying that their commitment to research is evident in the number of patents and copyrights earned by some of them.
In his remarks, Mr Taiye Odedeji, who spoke on behalf of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), commended the magnitude and quality of the outputs of the University of Ilorin over the years.
He explained that innovation and intellectual property are cornerstones of sustainable human development as he urged other staff members of the University to emulate the recipients by ensuring that they keep innovating and creating new ideas and products.
Speaking on behalf of the recipients, the Head of the Department of Geophysics, University of Ilorin, Prof. Saminu Olatunji, thanked the authorities of the University for creating an enabling environment for them.
Prof. Olatunji, who earned two patents, explained that everyone is an innovator and that what separates him and his colleagues from others was the opportunity provided for them by the University to expose their ideas.
The event was attended by many dignitaries including the Director, Centre for Open and Distance Learning, who is also the Head of the Department of Chemistry, Prof. Modinah AbdulRaheem, and two Deputy Directors of LAPTOP, Dr A. A. Daibu and Dr Omolayo A. Omorinoye, among others.
