Fred Ezeh, Abuja and Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has earmarked N5 billion to fund Research and Development (R&D) in higher institutions, its Executive Secretary, Prof. Suleiman Elias Bogoro, said.
He disclosed during a visit to the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, to inspect projects funded by the agency.
According to him, the N5 billion grant would go a long way in improving the quality of researches in Nigerian universities.
He said TETFund is changing its focus from funding physical infrastructures to researches, and pledged increased support to journal publications, library developments and trainings of academics.
“We made a case to the Board and they agreed that we should put up to N5 billion for Research and Development, and we put the amount in the budget through the Minister of Education and sent it to Mr President, who graciously approved it,” Bogoro said.
He commended the Usmanu Danfodiyo University for investing in uplifting its academic standard and hailed the appointment of Lawal Sulaiman Bilbis as Vice President.
Addressing journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Bogoro said TETFund would prefer universities place more emphasis on research and innovations that would birth solutions to socioeconomic, political, security and ICT problems and not limits its focus to academics.
He expressed confidence in the ability of Nigerian scholars to churn out international research materials if given adequate support. He, however, bemoaned the non-recognition of researchers in the country and the refusal to patronise their work.
“The Nigerian market outsources research services to foreign institutions, notably, Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Cambridge and foreign institutions, to our disadvantage. That should stop forthwith. Surprisingly, first class graduates in Nigeria go to these universities and prove their worth; they compete favourably with researchers and scholars from the institutions, and in some cases, outperform them.
“We presented our case to Nigerian business community at the just concluded National Economic Summit in Abuja, and they saw reasons to patronise local researcher. We assured them of quality and world class research solutions to problems.”
Bogoro said TETFund’s research and development department is working assiduously to provide a world class template that would enhance quality research and innovations in schools.
“We would develop and equip our libraries, including our virtual libraries with necessary materials to enhance research works. The hard book libraries would be there to complement the virtual ones. In addition to that, we would focus on quality of infrastructures in our universities to enhance teaching and learning,” said Bogoro.
Reacting to demands for the inclusion of private universities as beneficiaries of TETFund, Bogoro said that would not happen soon because of limitations in the Act establishing the agency.
“Students population in public universities is 94 per cent, while the remaining six per cent are in private universities, even when they have equal number of institutions. It simply means that majority of Nigerian students cannot afford education at private universities. That was why TETFund establishment Act was explicit on beneficiaries,” he said.