The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, said that very soon researchers in Nigerian tertiary institutions would have no cause to remain poor.
He stated this in his speech during the inauguration of ad-hoc committee on Research and Development (R&D) of TETFund Thursday.
Bogoro says innovative research and its consequent commercialisation is the driver that moves and nurtures the engine of modern economic growth, thus it is an important driver of poverty alleviation.
“The key measurement parameters for Nigerian Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the anchor for Nigeria’s economic transformation blueprint is dependent on Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) . The advancement in SET is dependent on R&D.
“Innovative research and its consequent commercialisation is the driver that moves and nurtures the engine of modern economic growth, thus it is an important driver of poverty alleviation.
“There is ample evidence to show that R&D propelled by higher education, more than anything else, has contributed to the rise and expansion of the world knowledge economy,” Bogoro said.
He further says that the power of commercialisation of R&D results has been recognised by both developed and developing economies and that the nature and demands of modern economy is the fundament stimulus for the university-industry relationships, and stressed that investment in research and development as well as human capital development is key to economic advancement of any nation.
He states that in developed countries industries look up to universities as potential innovators in the development and commercialisation of products which results in funding the cash starved universities and university researchers having access to most modern technology and management systems in industries, adding that higher education institutions are globally positioned to be the bridge between the productive society and knowledge growth.
Bogoro lamented that level of research in Nigeria is remarkably low.
“In spite of the fact that the role of R&D in national development, including leveraging the quality of research and academic programmes is well known, the level of research and development infrastructure and productivity in Nigeria remains unacceptably low (0.02%).”
He averred that in spite of the fact that research and development is central to a country’s development, in Nigeria, there is absence of a national platform for the regulation and strengthening of research and development/
“It is in this vein that TETFund, propelled by my vision, continues to advocate the establishment by law, of a national R&D Foundation that will ensure a coordinated national framework for the sustenance and implementation of R&D .
“Such a foundation, when established, shall promote an effective interface between universities, government and private sector, especially the industrial subsector of the economy.
“Since 2004, when I was appointed the Executive Secretary of TETFund, I was and still is, committed to lead TETFund in this vision by sensitising the whole country towards the need to strengthen R&D in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
“The passion is evidenced by the numerous papers I have presented across the country.”
He said in his several submissions, he emphasised the inadequacy of incentives for research and development and innovations in tertiary institutions.
It is worthy of note that TETFund’s mandate include ensuring physical infrastructure for teaching and learning, procuring instructional material and equipment, research and publication, academic staff training and development.
He therefore, said for long, they have been paying attention to physical infrastructure but now it is time for innovative researches to make the physical structures meaningful.
Bogoro charged the committee members to provide strategic leadership that will lead to smooth implementation of TETFund R&D mandate among staff by creating awareness and ensuring paradigm shift in the Fund.
The committee has Professor Placid Njoku, an erudite scholar and one of Africa’s most prominent intellectual and academics and current president of Nigerian Institute of Animal Science as chairman; Professor Ibrahim Katampe, a professor of Chemistry and director for Innovative and Technology Incubation in the Center for Excellence in Emerging Technologies (CEET) , Central State University, USA, as vice chairman, and Mr Temitope Toogun, head of human capital commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) as member. Other members include prominent TETFund staff.
All three have promised to take TETFund R&D assignment with all seriousness for the good of Nigeria.
