Tertiary Education Trust Fund says the presidency has approved the award of N4.2bn grant for the funding of 158 research projects under the National Research Fund 2024 Grant Cycle.
The approval followed the report of the TETFund National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee, which recommended the funding of the 158 research proposals after a rigorous screening exercise, which commenced with the receipt of 6,944 Concept Notes from various researchers.
TETFund’s Director of of Public Affairs, Abdulmumin Oniyangi who revealed this in a statement on behalf of the Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono, said the breakdown of the approval indicates that the sum of N2,349,951,630.43 was approved for the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation thematic group; N1,028,966,204.32 for Humanities and Social Science, while Cross Cutting received N870,708,982.94.
“Beneficiary Institutions with the highest number of awards include the Federal University of Technology, Minna with a total of 15 awards amounting to N400,035,708.51; Ahmadu Bello University with 13 awards totaling N359,809,744.18, and Federal University of Technology, Akure with 12 awards at N341,608,592.80.
Others are Federal University of Technology, Owerri with 11 awards at N256,350,698.80; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi with 10 awards at N273,406,318.80 and University of Ilorin with 8 awards totaling N220,538,834.12,” the statement said.
It added that the approved research works include Development of Sustainable Eco-Friendly Walling System for Low-Cost Housing in the Rural Communities of Nigeria; Development of hybrid cubic fertilizer using plant based binders for efficient nutrient release and utilization; Development of an Intelligent Aerial Robotics System for Efficient Weed and Disease Management in Maize-Cowpea Farmland in Nigeria; Development of an Artificial Intelligence-Enable Internet of Medical Things for Military Physiological Monitoring and Activity Recognition System at War Zone, and Development of a Novel Intelligent Electrical Energy Management Metering among others
Similarly, the Federal Government has approved the award of contracts for the establishment of 18 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hubs in TETFund Beneficiary Institutions across the six geo-political zones of the country in the 2024 Intervention of the Fund.
The Hubs according to the statement, will provide Core Labs/Workstation to cover Electronic Lab, 3D Printing Lab, Laser Technology Lab, Product Design Lab, Robotics and Coding, Artificial Intelligence, among others.
“The project is intended to facilitate and accelerate the uptake of promising research output, providing solution-driven and multidisciplinary hubs tailored towards the needs of Beneficiary Institutions where ideas and research findings can be domesticated and transformed into solutions for the Nigerian innovation ecosystem.
“Still in support of the creation of Innovation Hubs and Entrepreneurship Centres, the Federal Government has also approved the allocation of funds under the 2025 Intervention to 15 TETFund Beneficiary Institutions. The institutions are Federal University Dutse, University of Uyo and University of Ibadan with an allocation of N1 billion each.
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