Hundreds of researchers and inventors from across tertiary institutions and beyond, today (Monday, November 18) displayed their research products and inventions at the maiden edition of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) National Research Fair/Exhibition, in Abuja, the FCT.
The exhibition provided an opportunity for the researchers and inventors to display their local solutions to several socio-economic challenges facing Nigerians, soliciting, in the process, commercialization support that would encourage mass production.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who declared open the National Research Fair (NRF) said quality research has remained the bedrock of any visible and lasting transformation in any country.
He said: “Europe was once regarded as a backward continent until they discovered three things, the rule of law, the free market, and research-based innovation, that turned their fortunes for good.
“The same thing later happened in North America, with the same consequences, and it is now happening in Asia. The success of our vision and development agenda largely depends on if Nigeria will also learn from these experiences.”
He promised that the NRF would be sustained as an annual National effort, adding that TETFund will continue to sensitise Nigerians, most especially the youths, to take advantage of the outcomes to participate in economic development.
He urged the funding and all financial institutions including the commercial banks to also reform their support to the government, to strategically support Nigerians to establish small and medium enterprises using home-grown technologies.
“We also encourage the International Development Partners to also reform their support to align it with the administration to ensure that the youths of Nigeria acquire the necessary and relevant capacities and organisational skills to succeed as producers and service providers for National Development,” he said
Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, in his remarks, noted the immense improvement in the performance of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria, most especially in the areas of research and development.
“The research outputs under the Natural Sciences, Technology & Innovation, the Social Sciences and Arts, from these institutions are increasingly being recognized and respected all over the world, leading to an extraordinary increase in the numbers of professors, PhD graduates and the general quality of teaching and further research,” he enthused.
“In view of the policies of the government aimed at revamping the economy, creating jobs, generating wealth and redistributing wealth among Nigerians, TETFund recognized the imperative need to enhance the linkages of these impressive academia performances to industry and the day-to-day life of the average Nigerian.”
He confirmed that the exhibition was organized for technology owners to participate “free of charge”, adding that the Fair is also open to the public to attend “free of charge”, all to maximise the opportunity of achieving the intended objectives.
Chairman, Board of Trustees of TETFund, Aminu Bello Masari, said the Board acknowledged the importance of research to the development of any nation, hence the renewed commitment to the advancement of research and development in the institutions.
He said: “It is in recognition of the role of research in national development, and the need to address the paucity of funds necessary to facilitate cutting-edge research in the areas of national priorities that the Board of Trustees of TETFund introduced the National Research Fund (NRF) Intervention to fund impactful research that will contribute to national developmental efforts as well as tackle global challenges.
“The NRF intervention which covers three broad categories: Science, Engineering, Technology & Innovation (SETI); Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS); and Cross Cutting (CC) was targeted at realizing the objective of addressing the critical research areas to drive the Nation’s economy and its developmental aspirations.
“To realize this goal, research outputs from our institutions need to be integrated into the industrial sector and the society in many ways to create spin-off firms, capital formation ventures, and business incubator facilities etc.
“In order to fulfil this mandate, the Fund assembled some of the best brains, Professors and Doctorate degree holders from within our public tertiary institutions under the auspices of the NRF Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC).
“The team is to, among others, develop the idea of harvesting excellent research products from these institutions and community level inventors that will be displayed at the Fair for five days. Successful uptake of inventions by major stakeholders will lead to the development of small and medium scale enterprises. This collaboration will create jobs, grow the economy, and our country will shift from a consumer to a producing nation.”
