The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) on Tuesday, inaugurated two committees to encourage research and development, revive and reinforce reading culture as well as promoting indigenous authors.
The committees are the TETFund Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC).
The Executive Secretary, TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, while inaugurating the committees in Abuja, noted that
“TAG has recorded a number of achievements from 2019 to 2021 such as engagement of over 700 Nigerian scholars as contributing authors, coordinating editors and reviewers to write 43 basic textbooks in diverse subject areas.
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“As at the time of this inauguration, 24 manuscripts have been reviewed and are ready for publication.
“New grants of five million Naira each were given to seven professional association journals and four of the seven professional association journals have accessed the first tranche of N2.5 million each.
“Another achievement is the construction, furnishing and equipping of seven Academic Publishing Centres (APCs) located at the University of Lagos (South-West), University of Calabar (South-South) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (South-East).
“Others are: Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola (North-East), Federal University of Technology, Minna
(North-Central), Usuman Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto (North-West) and the University of Abuja (FCT), “he said.
On research and development, the executive secretary stated that the National Research Fund Intervention was introduced in 2009, as a special intervention programme to promote the conduct of applied research and innovation by academics.
He added that to actualise the set objectives, the TETFund Board of Trustees set up the NRF Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC) to implement and administer the intervention.
Bogoro stressed that in view of the critical nature of research to national development, TETFund under his leadership, had made research a priority.
He said that in crafting the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment, etc) Act, 2011, the lawmakers decided to insert “Research and Publication” in third place on the list of five mandates with “Instructional materials and equipment” occupying the first two slots.
“However, today’s TETFund, under my leadership, has embarked on a paradigm shift that has flipped the list of intervention areas, catapulting research to the top spot.
“In setting up the NRF, the intention was to leverage on research as a veritable tool for crafting solutions to pressing developmental needs, as well as our aspiration of catalysing Nigeria’s transformation into a knowledge economy”, Bogoro added.
He commended the Board of Trustees of TETFund for sharing in management’s drive to prioritising research, such that from a seed fund of N3billion in 2011, the NRF had grown to become an annual intervention with substantial funding of N8.5 billion in 2021.
Bogoro said in view of the need to share knowledge between critical stakeholders, the NRF intervention was expanded beyond researchers in public institutions to private universities and other stakeholders.
“From 2012 to 2019, a total of 240 Research grants have been awarded at a total cost of N6,708,367,736.25.
“Also in 2020, a key development in the NRF grant administration was the introduction of an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) to automate manual processes, for efficiency and effectiveness, in line with global best practices.
“The 2020 NRF Grant Cycle exercise was concluded in January 2021 with a total of 217 Research proposals recommended for Grant Awards of N6,396,159,060,” he said.
The TETFund helmsman disclosed that the NRFS & M Committee would be involved in pre-qualifying applications for research grants from academics in beneficiary institutions, with a view to ensuring compliance with approved templates for accessing TETFund NRF grant, among other things.
He said the draft Executive Bill for the establishment of the National R&D Foundation (NRDF) had been produced and would soon be presented to the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, for onward delivery to the Presidency and National Assembly
