Victoria Mgbanwa
In a move geared at revolutionizing the country’s research and innovation landscape, the Federal Government, through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has launched Nigeria’s first-ever National Research Fair.
The event, which was held in Abuja, on Monday was officially opened by Dr. Morufu Olatunji Alausa, the Honourable Minister of Education.
The Minister emphasized the alignment of the fair with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which focuses on boosting the domestic economy, creating jobs, and increasing wealth through innovation.
Dr. Alausa underscored the transformative power of research, describing it as the key to moving Nigeria from a consumer to a producer nation, and transform the country’s economy from dependence to self-reliance.
He said “The Research Fair is specially aligned to Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda on domesticating the local Research Results for the composite objective of creating jobs, generation of wealth and the ultimate strengthening of the economy.
“Generally, Research and Innovation System help to categorize countries into the First, Second and Third World countries. In other words, Research and Innovation system is the cardinal factor in determining the quality of life of a people and the overall status of their nation. Hence, research and innovation application determines the leaders and followers of this world.
Alausa also called on universities, polytechnics, and other educational institutions to align their research efforts with national development goals, urging them to focus on practical, applicable innovations that can address pressing challenges such as food security, healthcare, and infrastructure.
“This National Research Fair is a clarion call to all Tertiary Institutions and Research Institutes in Nigeria, to align to the Reforms of Mr. President, to conduct their Teaching, Research and Innovations, to be applied, practical and effective in addressing the development challenges in our country.
“The Fair will be sustained as an annual National effort, and we will sensitise Nigerians, most especially the youth, to take advantages of the outcomes to participate in our economic development.
“We urge the funding and all financial institutions including the commercial banks to also reform their support to Government to strategically support Nigerians to establish small and medium enterprises using home-grown technologies.
“We encourage the International Development Partners to also reform their support to align it to Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda to ensure that the youth of Nigeria acquire the necessary and relevant capacities and organisational skills to succeed as producers and service providers for National Development.” He added.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees at TETFund, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, who was also present at the event, highlighted the importance of integrating research outputs into the Nigerian economy.
He further stressed TETFund’s commitment to funding and supporting transformative research.
Masari noted the agency’s long history of funding initiatives such as the National Research Fund (NRF) and Institution Based Research (IBR), which have funded thousands of research projects since their inception.
“First, it is not just an ordinary expo where people will come for sight seeing, as it is with most of the exhibitions that we have been having in different parts of the country. It is the one in which uptakers have been invited to critically look at products on display for possible adoption and mainstreaming into the Nigerian market.
“Financial institutions have been invited to participate and possibly fund the commercialization of viable products. The Fair is also saddled with the responsibility of protecting the intellectual property and trade secrets of inventors and right of all the participants.
Accoridng to him, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is an intervention agency set up by the Federal Government to provide supplementary support to all levels of public Tertiary Institutions with the core objective of using funding to ameliorate some of the myriads of challenges bedevilling Nigerian Public Universities.
“Thus, TETFund’s intervention specifically addresses issues on rehabilitation and restoration of dilapidated infrastructure, provision of facilities and tools to improve and consolidate Tertiary Education in Nigeria.
“The Fund has committed huge resources into research and development (R&D) programmes since its inception in 2011 in order to develop home-grown solutions from cutting-edge research in TETFund beneficiary institutions for national development.
“The Fund has sponsored 23,221 Institution Based Research (IBR) since 2011 and 912 National Research Fund (NRF) grants since 2012. The Board of Trustees is committed to providing transformative intervention to drive the imperative of research and innovation and improve the global competitiveness of our tertiary institutions.” He said.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, during his address celebrated the fair as a vital step towards bridging the gap between academic research and industrial application.
Echono pointed out that the fair would serve as a valuable opportunity for Nigerian researchers to collaborate with businesses, investors, and government bodies to turn their ideas into practical solutions.
He said, “Research and innovation are critical to the sustenance of anysociety. Besides expanding knowledge and facilitating changes in the society, scientific knowledge as a product of research should be able to address societal problems and ultimately bring about improvements in the standard of living.
“In view of the policies of Government aimed at revamping the economy, creating jobs, generating wealth and redistributing wealth among Nigerians, TETFund further recognized the imperative need to enhance the linkages of these impressive academia performances to industry and the day-to-day life on the average Nigerian.
“TETFund has deliberately organized this Fair for technology owners to participate “Free of Charge”, and the Fair is also open to the general public to attend “Free of Charge”, all to maximise the opportunity of achieving the intended objectives.”
