Don Tasks Nigerian University System On Use of Analytical Chemistry To Boost Revenue Generation

By Gbenga Gbelee 

A Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Lagos, Olusegun Ayejuyo has tasked Nigerian universities to strategically scale up activities connected to analytical chemistry, in order to unlock new streams of internally revenue generation (IGR).

The don gave the task while delivering his inaugural lecture on Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at the J.F. Ade. Ajayi (Main) Auditorium, UNILAG. The inaugural lecture titled Analytical Techniques in Chemical Trials: Evidence and the Verdict was the 450th series in UNILAG and 4th in the 2025/2026 academic session.

According to Prof. Ayejuyo, ivory towers in Nigeria will benefit more if they explore potentials in Analytical Chemistry while improving the capacity of laboratory personnel with a view to keeping them abreast of trends in other research-oriented climates.

In the course of the lecture, Prof. Ayejuyo highlighted the indispensability of Analytical Chemistry in determining the chemical composition of samples, using instruments and techniques to separate, identify, and quantify matters.

The inaugural lecturer gave a detailed breakdown of techniques for detecting, identifying, and quantifying active ingredients in drug formulations, nutritive values of raw and processed food products, emerging traces and priority organic contaminants in multimedia samples.

He suggested ways to improve these techniques to meet the pressing demands for a faster, cheaper, more sensitive, and more selective chemical measurements in a variety of substances.

Prof. Ayejuyo noted that the analytical data generated via the developed and deployed techniques could be adopted for use in the pharmaceutical, food and beverages industries, environmental monitoring and remediation by enhancing and addressing policies on product quality and standards, food security and safety, chemical hazards and risks assessment among others.

While expressing concerns over the state of laboratories in many public institutions, the Professor of Analytical Chemistry called for partnership and collaboration among stakeholders to refurbish, build and equip state-of-the-art laboratories.

The inaugural lecturer also stressed the need for regulatory bodies such as the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) to be strengthened as part of efforts to improve their oversight functions and enforcement in the face of substandard and deceptively labeled products.