Unilorin wins anti-plagiarism award

The University of Ilorin (Unilorin) says development of the EAGLESCANS Anti-Plagiarism Software has won the institution an award.

According to the university’s Bulletin on Tuesday, the Peer Review Module of the software was developed by the duo of an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering, Dr Jaiyeola Opadiji and Mr Zubair Alanamu of the Directorate of Computer Services and Information Technology (COMSIT).

It stated that the award was recently presented to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mikhail Buhari, at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja, by the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on TETFund and Tertiary Education, Sen. Sunday Onor.

Speaking on the development, Dr Jaiyeola Opadiji said the software became necessary to stem the tide of theft of intellectual property in the nation’s university system and to bring about more quality development in the academia and the industry.

He explained that similar devices had existed but were found not to be suitable to local conditions.

“People still engage in reckless and deliberate duplications of other people’s efforts across universities, which discourages productivity,” he said.

The don recalled that the idea of developing the software started in 2015 under the leadership of the immediate past vice-chancellor of the university, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, who served as the founding Chairman of the Technical Group of the project as constituted by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU).

He added that it was gratifying that the project was eventually completed and delivered during the tenure of the incumbent vice-chancellor (Abdulkareem), who is the Chairman of CVCNU.

Opadiji gave the names of other institutions, whose staff participated in the development of the software, as the Benue State University, Makurdi; Delta State University, Abraka; Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin; and Covenant University, Otta.

Explaining the specific role of Unilorin in the project, Opadiji said his colleague, Alanamu of the COMSIT Directorate and himself, were saddled with the task of developing the Peer Review Module of the Software, an assignment, he said, was delivered to the satisfaction of the CVCNU.

“The software is currently undergoing a three-month test running after which it will be put to full use,” he said.

He added that all that was needed to be done by those who wanted to verify the authenticity and timelessness of their works was to go to www.eaglescan.ng to know whether what they were working on or use had been previously explored or not.

He added that for universities to enjoy the software, all the previous, current and subsequent works of their academics, scholars and students needed to be digitised.

Opadiji said Unilorin had been doing that for quite some time, a condition that would afford relevant members of the university community the privilege of benefiting from the new device.

He commended the management of unilorin for nominating him and his colleague to participate in the development of the software.