IORMS Nigeria Conference: Experts Discuss Overcoming COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts

Ololade Adeyanju/

“With the economy of the world already in a prostrate position and resources at the near bottom of its container, can the world survive another global lockdown?”

This question and many others were answered at the just concluded annual International Conference of The Institute of Operational Research and Management Science of Nigeria (IORMS Nigeria).

The President of the Institute, Prof. Rasheed Ojikutu, said in his opening speech: “With near total collapse in human output and a consumption pattern that is not dwindling, one can foresee a disaster to the human race if decisive management sciences tools are not quickly employed to match production with consumption. Operational Research techniques are available to provide answers to several questions in this area.”

IORMS Nigeria is a registered professional Institute promoting, developing, and regulating the education and practice of Operational Research in Nigeria.

The 3-day conference tagged “Overcoming the Impact of COVID 19 Pandemic: An Operational Research Optimization Approach”, was the third annual international conference of the institute which ran from November 17 to November 19, 2020 from 12 noon each day.

In his contribution, Prof. Adedeji Badiru of the Airforce Institute of Technology, Ohio, USA, stressed the need for operational research to achieve efficient and effective delivery of education in this era of COVID-19.

He affirmed that the use of the DEJI system model which stands for Design, Evaluation, Justification and Integration, will also help in achieving effective and efficient delivery in the education sector.

“Anywhere we are, we will face resource limitation, many times urgency will develop, sometimes emergency will develop and global demand will always be with us, on top of all of these, we now face the COVID-19 pandemic. We must usher in all intellectual resources under the umbrella of operational research to do the best job we can do,” he said.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, and the chief host, Prof. Toyin Ogundipe, stressed the need for researchers to come together and assist each other in tackling problems and providing possible solutions on how to handle the Coronavirus pandemic which also affects the educational system. The Institute Headquarters is at the University’s faculty of Management Science.

The Goodwill address was given by the Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Development Services UNILAG, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola (former Ag. VC), who is also a Covid-19 Crusader for Lagos State Government.

“COVID-19 has taught us to do a lot of things very differently. Even things we were doing before and one such thing is creating virtual platforms for online lectures,” she said.

The first Plenary session started by 1pm (about 7.00am US time), with the Guest Speaker Professor Adedeji Badiru Dean of Engineering & Management at the Airforce Institute of Technology, Ohio USA. He delivered a paper titled “Operational Research Methods and tools for online education amidst COVID 19 pandemic” which was followed by a Comments and Answer session.

The opening day event ended with a conferment of Professional Fellowship award given to Mr. Olugbenga Oso for his past experiences and contributions to the practice of Operational Research and Improved System Performance in Nigeria.

The second day had four parallel sessions in the morning and a plenary session in the afternoon with a paper titled “Optimal Management of COVID 19 using a combination of distancing and testing strategy” delivered by Associate Professor Christopher Thron of the Texas A&M University, Central Texas, USA.

The third and last day had a UK based Guest Speaker, Dr. Paula Carroll of the University College Dublin, an Associate Professor of OR & Business Analytics, and the Euro Chair of WISDOM (Women in Society Doing ORMS) who delivered the paper titled: “Sustainability Modeling and Optimization Contribution to Affordable and Clean Energy” at the third plenary session.

The conference was well attended locally and internationally. The local speakers at the parallel session included Dr. Abraham Tamber PhD of the Benue State University who delivered a paper titled “A Comparative Analysis of the Shortest Path Algorithm for COVID-19 Activities & Distribution of Palliatives Items” and Dr. Omotola Oso a medical practitioner who spoke on “Resilient Health Systems to Mitigate Impact of Pandemic on Medical Professionals”.

The day witnessed Induction of New Members, conducted by the Registrar of the Institute Mr. Okesola Moses, CMC for the following Inductees who read their oath of allegiance virtually; Ighomedreho O. Salome (PhD); Ofuani, Barbara Aiwanehi (Ph.D); Adebola, Glorious Adekoya; Abraham Jighjigh Tamber; Victor Effiong Ekpo; Kingsley Mordi; Okoh Godwin Luke; Adewusi Adewale; Edu Semiu Olatunde as full members.

Ogbechi Daniel Chinedum Ayodele was the only inducted Associate member while Ogbechi Valentino Olisemeka O and Ogbechi Naomi Olulu Boluwatife were inducted as student members.

The Vote of Thanks was given by Dr. Olumuyiwa S. Asaolu 1st Vice President of the Institute who also closed the conference at about 3:00pm.

The Annual General Meeting started afterwards for all members.

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