ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the organizational weaknesses of Nigeria’s research institutions. It examines the influence of the land-grant system on the structure and superintendence of the scientific bodies, and deals with a discussion of the American pullout from Nigeria. Nigeria did establish an Agricultural Technical Committee in 1955 to bring the research institutions together and smooth out their differences, but it proved ineffective. The Nigerian Agricultural Society wanted any new coordinating body to have teeth, and advocated creating a national research council with executive powers. Institutional frameworks in Nigeria tend to be short-lived. The Agricultural Research Council’s dual responsibility to the parent ministry and to the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) came under critical review. Accordingly, the National Science and Technology Development Agency was formed in 1977 to replace the NCST. No matter what type of crop they studied, agricultural scientists in newly-independent Nigeria seemed to neglect practical applications.
