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THE executive secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono has tasked members of the Research and Development Standing Committee (RSDC) to expedite action in promoting research into various challenges confronting Nigeria.
Echono gave the charge when he met with the leadership of the committee, led by its chairman, Professor Anya O. Anya in Abuja, urging the committee to design an agenda that could fast-track research process in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the increase of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund’s National Research Fund (NRF) to N7.5 billion for the year 2020 from the initial N3 billion for the purpose of bolstering research in the country.
The Fund had accordingly constituted a RDSC of over 150 members with 13 thematic areas of focus, with the task to fast-track Nigeria’s global competitiveness in product development and service delivery.
The thematic groups include agriculture, environment and bioresources, medicine, energy and infrastructural development. Others are education pharmaceuticals, and digital economy, petroleum, fossils resources solid mineral and mining; defence and military; governance, social development and several others.
Echono expressed gratitude for the services and hard work that had already gone into the project, saying that Nigeria needs urgent steps to come out of its current situation.
He said: “We have reached an important milestone in our national development that requires us taking new bearings, changing course, exploring all the alternatives to see how we can move our country from where it is presently.
“You have heard about Dubai, and even Qatar, a very small country, is being showcased to the world now, and the whole world is watching with keen attention. We have all seen the level of infrastructure development that Qatar has brought forth.
“No one can doubt the fact that Nigeria has one of the best brains in the world. Having assembled our best and given the dire circumstances and situation that we faced. I urge you to take the lead in designing an agenda that can fast track research processes in the country.”
He pledged that the TETFund will do everything humanly possible to support the project. “TETFund is now at that point where tertiary institutions in the country will begin to tell Nigerians what we are doing for them as a fund,” he said.
“We want to be able to prove that we are committed to making that investment and also harnessing the human and natural resources as well as deploying them, but we need you as experts and leaders to drive it,” Echono added.
Earlier, Anya said the importance of science and technology in reshaping the future of Nigeria cannot be overemphasised.
He said: “Many years from now, maybe ten years, twenty years, some will look at Nigeria and recognize this day as the day when Nigeria started taking science and technology seriously.
“The history of the contemporary world shows that those who embrace science and technology and operationalise it as instruments to development are now the knowledge societies around the world.
“I believe in the intention, the vision in all of us sitting here to hope that the lost time will be recovered and Nigeria will join those who use science and technology for development,” he said.
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