THE researchers from the Federal University of Technology Akure, (FUTA), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, grabbed the lion share of the N5.1 billion approved by the Federal Government to fund the 185 research proposals under the 2023 Grant Cycle by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund’s (TETFund) National Research Fund (NRF) initiative.
Nigerian Tribune, gathered that FUTA alone won 17 grants out of the 185 research proposals scheduled for funding under the 2023 Grant Cycle.
With 17 grants, FUTA, posted one of the best showings among other niversities with its researchers winning funding grants to the tune of N426,656,552.45.
Following closely on the feat are OAU and Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT-MINNA), with both having 16 proposals approved by the intervention agency.
The acting director of Public Affairs, TETFund, Mr Abdulmumin Oniyangi, while affirming the development said that the winners were selected following the report of the TETFund’s National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&M) and the approval of the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman.
He said for the current grant cycle, N5.1 billion will be released for the funding of 185 successful research proposals.
He said the successful research proposals were picked after a screening exercise, “that commenced in March 2023 with the receipt of 4,287 concept notes from prospective applicants.”
He noted also that the research funding is in continuation of the government’s efforts aimed at boosting research and development for economic and technological development in Nigeria as enunciated in the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Other institutions that also had their proposals approved include: Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) (10); University of Jos and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, with nine each, University of Lagos (UNILAG), eight; University of Ilorin and Usmanu Danfodiyo University, seven each; while the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), University of Ibadan (UI), and Osun State University, received six each, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) got five.
The executive secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono commended the institutions for performing exceptionally, noting that the agency’s commitment to researchers and academics is beginning to yield results.
“We will begin to introduce this as a culture. Soon, we will put this as one of our interventions as a way of encouraging those who are doing well in so many areas, and through that introduce merit and competition,” he said.
Suffice to state that the TETFund research awards are of two types namely, National Research Fund (NRF) and Institution Based Research (IBR) with different modalities for selection and awards.
The National Research Fund (NRF) grant was introduced by TETFund to encourage cutting-edge research, which explores research areas relevant to the nation’s societal needs, such as power and energy, health, security, agriculture, employment and wealth creation in line with the agency’s mandate.
The intervention has however, received additional impetus under the Renewed Hope Agenda as a veritable tool to grow the economy and improve the standards of living of the Nigerian people.
The vice chancellor of FUTA, Professor Adenike Oladiji, who was excited by the outstanding performance of researchers from his university, described the success of FUTA in the 2023 grant cycle of the NRF as a major validation of the institution’s reputation as a research intensive university.
“We are proud that our institution is living up to its billing as a research intensive university with researchers ensuring that we live up to our motto of ‘Technology for Self-Reliance.’
“I am sure that our researchers will acquit themselves creditably well and deliver research findings and products that will contribute to the growth of the ivory tower and development of our country,” he said.
He congratulated all the principal investigators and their internal and external collaborators, wishing them resounding success in the tasks ahead.”
The director, FUTA Centre for Research and Development (CERAD) Professor Kenneth Alaneme said the university researchers would deliver creditably well on the projects.
According to him, FUTA through its Centre for Research and Development (CERAD) has a robust mechanism of ensuring that the project deliverables are achieved in terms of quality, project duration, and strict adherence to project budgetary provisions.
“Through its project implementation workshops for new awardees, project monitoring and evaluation, and financial control, the university has always delivered on funded projects (locally and internationally. This has contributed to the high research reputation of the university,” he said.
Oniyangi, the spokesperson of TETFund who gave the breakdown of the N5.1 billion approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the funding of 185 research proposals, disclosed that N3,784,635,923.00 was approved for science, engineering, technology and innovation (SETI) thematic group; N759,875,400.00 for humanities and social science (HSS), while cross cutting (CC) received N583,669,300.63 with individual grants ranging between N8 million and N46 million.
Some of the approved works under SETI include application of the hydro-biogeochemical framework to develop a national rural water quality assurance plan for sustainable water quality management in Nigeria; development and use of doubled haploid maize lines for improved maize yield and tolerance to armyworm; development of an intelligent multi-chamber evaporative cooling preservative system for post-harvest storage of selected fruits in Nigeria and development of electric vehicle with special tracking features, among others.
Projects under cross cutting thematic group include utilisation of scrap tyres and plastic wastes as aggregate conductive material for renewable energy storage system; development of appropriate technology for production of aluminium alloy sacrificial anodes for applications in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, as well as development of an economical low voltage programmable electroporation and investigation of pulse electric field for wound healing and cancer treatment.
Approved under humanities and social sciences are digital financial inclusion, rural households’ consumption structure and well-being in Nigeria; equity and inclusion: creating access to library resources for students living with vision impairment in e-learning environment in Nigerian universities and mitigating post-traumatic stress disorder, among frontline army personnel using stress inoculation therapy, among others.
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