Centres across the participating institutions boast of Faculty staff who are leaders in their fields of specialization with practicing/consulting field experiences in addition to vast teaching and research experience with publications in reputable journals. The Centres would also engage the services of academic staff/industry practitioners across the selected disciplines within and across the Universities, as well as, staff of international institutions as may be found necessary. The academic staff across the Centres are most qualified to provide graduate training leading to Masters and PhD degrees and short-term industry and policy targeted programmes.
The programme seeks to ramp-up the level and quality of research, particularly Policy oriented research, at postgraduate level in Nigerian Universities. Consequently, the programme will engage in multi-disciplinary collaborative research on major policy issues relating to the financial sector in particular, and the national economy in general.
Given the importance of integrating theory with practice, the programme encompasses an outreach segment. The Centres shall constantly organise conferences, seminars, guest lectures, and the dissemination of findings of policy research. The purpose is to ensure interaction among both participating & non-participating institutions, the professional bodies, private sector, other research and training centres within and outside Nigeria. Staff of the Centre will also be engaged in consultancies for government, international agencies and the energy industry.
The outreach programmes would also provide the platform through which benefits would flow from the collaborating universities to others, with outreach segments that focus on capacity building programmes for lecturers and students from non-participating institutions through lectures, short courses, symposia, etc.
The Centre will encourage constant development of the capacity of its faculty staff through refresher courses to ensure cutting edge research and teaching skills.