Nigeria has launched a home-grown plagiarism Detection Software, code- named Eagle Scan.
Launching the Software in Abuja on Tuesday, Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo stated that plagiarism is a form of corruption and described the act as stealing of intellectual properties of others.
Osinbajo who was the Special Guest at the public presentation and launch of the Eagle Scan Plagiarism Detection Software, said “it is an initiative that announces the zero tolerance for plagiarism and part of the core mandates of President Muhammadu Buhari Administration”.
“The Federal government is fully committed to support all initiatives that will continue to build and enhance the integrity of higher institutions.
“Let me also say that the government will give all that is needed to ensure that anti-plagiarism measures are instituted across the country”, Osinbajo added.
Addressing challenges in academic research
The Chairman of the Occasion and the Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on Higher Education, Prof Sandy Onor, said the Software will address the challenge of Academic research authentication and validation.
“The Eagle Scan Plagiarism Detection Software integrates global open source and closed source repositories, local Open Education Repositories and it allows users to validate titles abstracts and generate originality report”, he said.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, appplauded the indigenous anti-plagiarism software saying it will facilitate the desired quality expected in institutions of higher learning.
Goodwill messages from partners
The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, emphasised the need to institutionalise an anti-plagiarism policy in all higher institutions which will encompass various aspects of plagiarism.
“Having the software is one aspect of the battle against plagiarism; universities must take concrete steps to institutionalise anti-plagiarism policy that forbids all aspects of the intellectual theft.
“For so long the issues of plagiarism amongst others such as copyrights as well as abuses of infringements have robbed our universities the much desired integrity”, Prof Abubakar said.
The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Prof Elias Bogoro , said the Fund in respect to plagiarism is delighted to work with the Committee of the Vice Chancellors CVC.
According to Bogoro, the Fund is not only committed to the initiative but has effectively promised and proceeded to make funding commitment towards the project.
“TetFund recently realised the need for software on anti-plagiarism for the National Research Fund. We are also working on a software to package the impact of research but in respect of plagiarism, we are happy to work with the CVC.
“We are convinced of deepened content of academic engagement particularly research. The idea of operations must stop, hence the establishment of the Research and Development committee”, Prof Bogoro said.
The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede called for an all inclusive concentration on the Eagle Scan. He urged that the Plagiarism Detection Software be tagged a National Repository, saying this will create more opportunities for all institutions across all sectors to subscribe.
The Chairman Association of Vice Chancellors, Prof Timothy Olagbemiro, said the Eagle Scan will make the Nigerian University system more authentic and that it will add value to education both in Nigeria and worldwide.
The Secretary General of the Committee of Vice Chancellors, Prof Yakubu Ochefu said the Cost of development, deployment, maintenance and marketing of the software over the next three years is projected at a total sum of N251,298,000.00.
“A substantial part of this cost is for licensing closed user databases and repositories. For now, CVC Secretariat is hosting the Secretariat for the Eagle Scan Technical Team”, he said.
Features of the software
The main features of the software include Plagiarism Checker, Peer Review, Document Comparison, Grammar Checker, Similarity Index, Grade Mark, Local and foreign Language Support/Converter, Local/Global Repository, Title/Abstract Validation, LMS Integration, Report Download, User Account Management, and Self-Archival Interface.
The Software also comes with a very robust artificial intelligence-driven data analytics and visualization engine. It is currently hosted on www.eaglescan.ng.
The Vice President was represented by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof Abubakar Rasheed while Deputy Executive Secretary of NUC, Dr. Ramon Yusuf, represented the NUC Executive Secretary.
Nneka Ukachukwu
