TETFund to establish multipurpose laboratories in universities

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has inaugurated an ad hoc committee on the establishment of central multipurpose laboratories in select universities in the country.

The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while inaugurating the committee, noting that the move was part of efforts to provide relevant infrastructure to aid research in the country.

“It is universally accepted that innovative research and its commercialization is clearly the driver of economic growth and prosperity in the contemporary world.

“Thus, it is imperative to make conscious efforts to not only develop our human capital but to also provide research infrastructure to support innovative R&D on a sustainable basis. It is indeed a key prerequisite for accelerated national development and global competitiveness,” Echono said.

The TETFund boss said the agency is deploying billions of naira to fund research programmes and projects with a view to deepening the institutionalization of Research and Development to tackle national challenges.

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“You will recall that the Fund has so far awarded a total of Seven Hundred and Twenty-Seven (727) Research Grants to researchers from public tertiary institutions at the cost of over N18 billion under the National Research Fund (NRF) to undertake applied research in various academic disciplines,” he said.

Echono added that TETFund provided resources to support groundbreaking research in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how deficits in laboratory infrastructure posed a major challenge to researchers.

In his acceptance speech, Bamiro, who commended Echono for setting up the committee, expressed the readiness of the team to deliver on the assigned task.

“This will surely go a long way in rejuvenating research and training in research in our nation,” Bamiro said.

Other members of the committee are Professor Ekanem Braide, Professor Joseph Ahaneku, Professor Suleiman Mustapha, Professor Yusuf Saidu, Professor Nasir Isa Fagge, Professor Abubakar S. Sambo, Professor Ibrahim Katampe and Mallam Buhari Mikailu.