The newly appointed members of the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute (PNG NRI) council were sworn in yesterday, Monday 15 November, at the institute’s campus in Port Moresby.
The Council Members who were present at the ceremony were:
- Wilson Thompson, ML, Chairman;
- Allan Bird, MP, East Sepik Governor, Member of Parliament Representative;
- Mark Worinu, General Manager, Fresh Produce Development Agency, as the Community Representative;
- Associate Professor Ora Renagi, Vice Chancellor, PNG of University of Technology (UNITECH), Academic Staff Representative from UNITECH;
- Michael Kumung, Deputy Secretary, Policy and Planning, Department of National Planning and Monitoring, Representative from Department responsible for Economic planning matters;
- Dr. Francis Odhuno, PNG NRI Staff Representative; and
- Dr. Osborne Sanida, Office of PNG NRI Director.
Three members were not present but will be sworn in later. They include:
- Wera Mori, Minister for Climate Change and Conservation, Member of Parliament Representative;
- Professor Frank Griffin, Vice Chancellor, University of Papua New Guinea, Academic Staff Representative from UPNG; and
- Taies Sansan, Secretary, Department of Personnel Management (DPM), Representative from the Public Service.
Minister for Higher Education, Research Science and Technology, and Sports, Wesley Raminai, presided over the ceremony. Minister Raminai congratulated the council members for being appointed by the Head of State through the National Gazette.
Minister Raminai said PNG NRI plays a very important role in the country in terms of public policy development-related issues and so it was important to support its role.
He said PNG NRI had submitted an NEC Submission for the PNG Knowledge Hub development and he was pleased to announce that a funding of K30 million has been approved for the Sir Henry Chow Building construction, which will be the centre piece of the Knowledge Hub.
The Minister said there are a lot of issues in the country and there is a need for research to be done to understand the issues and find ways to address these issues.
Echoing the Minister’s statement on the need for research in PNG, Dr. Francis Hualupmomi, Acting Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST) said, PNG NRI plays a very significant role in terms of informing and advising the Government on policy issues so it was important that the government supports PNG NRI through funding.
“DHERST will need to work closely with PNG NRI in terms of research so that we advise the Government to make good decisions in terms of development,” he said.
Thompson, PNG NRI Council Chairman acknowledged the leadership of Minister Raminai for doing a tremendous work in a short period of time. He also acknowledged the Marape-led Government in supporting research, commencing with the visit of Prime Minister Marape to PNG NRI in 2019 and subsequent research funding support for 2020 and 2021 of around K1 million in total, which is a deviation from the past where Government funding was mainly for operational expenses. Thompson also acknowledged and thanked the Marape-led Government for the K30 million funding approved for the Sir Henry Chow Building.
The new Council Chairman also stated that PNG NRI needs more researchers to serve this country. He said PNG NRI has written to the DPM to recruit more researchers, and is hopeful more researchers will join the think tank (PNG NRI) next year.