TETFund, Minister: Inaugurated the Reconstituted TETFund National Research Fund Screening & Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC), the Technical Advisory Group (TAG)
TETFund, Minister: Inaugurated the reconstituted TETFund National Research Fund Screening & Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC), the Technical Advisory Group (TAG)
…Research output has been the main factor or criterion for ranking world-class universities. Echono
The Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman and the Executive Secretary TETFund, Arc. Sunny Echono, yesterday marked three important events; the Inauguration of the reconstituted TETFund National Research Fund Screening & Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC), the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) as well as Presentation of Report of the Ad hoc Committee on Upgrade of Equipment in Laboratories and Workshops in Beneficiary Institutions.
The event took place at the Ministry of Education Conference Hall, on the 11th June, 2024 in Abuja.
The Executive Secretary, Arc. Sunny Echono speaking at the event said, both NRS&MC and TAG were set up by the Board of Trustees and constituted to drive the process of implementing the National Research Fund and facilitate effective implementation of the Higher Education Book Development Fund, respectively.
‘The TETFund National Research Fund intervention line was introduced in 2009 as a Special Intervention, aimed at promoting the conduct of applied research and innovation in the nation’s public tertiary educational institutions.
‘The Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act. 2011, bestowed on the Fund the mandate to provide funding for Research and Publications, both within our content-based interventions.’
‘At the core of TETFund Interventions is solving national problems and dissemination of knowledge to the Nigerian Society.’
According to Echono, research output has been the main factor or criterion for ranking world-class universities. Research output is a quantitative and measurable means by which academics contribute to new knowledge and provides a gateway to solving specific technological, economic and social prerogatives.
”Research must be meaningful, impactful, and must be seen as a business that generates useful products and/ or services to society. If Research Projects are unable to solve societal challenges despite all the funding, then such research projects must be seen as ineffective for the achievement of the NRF Intervention goals.”
Speaking At the inauguration, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, said, it is widely recognised that innovative research and its commercialization remains the driver of economic growth and prosperity in the contemporary world.
‘All forms of economic development in the modern era depend on increased productivity arising from purposeful and problem-solving research.’
He added, ‘However, this is not possible without adequate and sustainable funding for research and development, and it is only by promoting applied research that the academia can feed the industry to generate employment and facilitate economic growth. R&D is indeed a key pre-requisite for accelerated national development and global competitiveness.
The NRFS&M Committee is saddled with the task to essentially improve on the performance of the NRF implementation and ensure identification of appropriate proposals through the various mechanisms of the Committee for funding.
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Echono further said, the Fund has introduced various research-focused programmes in its quest to deepen Research, Development, and Innovation in our academic community.
”Some of these initiatives include: Train-The-Trainer (TTT) Capacity Building of Academics on Research Proposal Writing & Research Grant Management skills; Establishment of 27 TETFund Centres of Excellence (TCoEs) to deliver quality training and applied research including a Centre for Diaspora Research; the Research for Impact (R4i) and TETFund Alliance for Innovative Research (TETFAIR) programmes aimed at providing a commercialization road-map for innovative research ideas emanating from the Fund’s Beneficiary Institutions.”
”We are also vigorously pursuing the establishment of Central Multipurpose Laboratories and Innovation Hubs with the objective of providing key research facilities to enhance impactful innovative research outputs.”
The 55-member reconstituted TETFund National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee has Prof. Hayward B. Mafuyai as the Chairman, while the 48-member reconstituted Technical Advisory Group has Prof. Albert A. Abegunde as Chairman. The membership of the two Committees were drawn from Nigerian Tertiary Education Institutions (Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education), representatives of the academic staff unions of these institutions, representatives of relevant regulatory agencies (National Universities Commission – NUC, the National Board for Technical Education – NBTE, and the National Commission for Colleges of Education – NCCE).
Also,the Report of the Committee on upgrade of equipment in laboratories and workshops at our beneficiary institutions will provide the framework and milestones for practically hands-on application of knowledge and accelerated skills development in our country.
