Bogoro

Research foundation to take off in 9
months –TETFund

By Uji
Abdullahi Iliyasu

Abuja

The Tertiary
Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has said that the proposed National Research and
Development  (R&D) Foundation will commence operation within the next
nine months.

Executive
Secretary of the Fund, Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, stated this in Abuja
Thursday when he led  the Fund’s  R&D sub-committee on Defence
and Security on a courtesy visit to the Chief of Naval of Staff, Vice Admiral,
Ibok Ekwe Ibas.

Bogoro, who
had earlier convened TETFund’s standing committee on R&D, sought  the
support of the Nigerian Navy towards the take-off of the foundation.

“We are
requesting that you support the case for the emergence of the R&D
Foundation. The most competitive technologies and economies in the world have
something similar to this.

“In
Nigeria we don’t have it…, the National R&D Foundation will be the
largest funding body for research, but it is not just funding, the target application
of the funds is the areas that these subcommittees are identifying carefully
that they will advise us leading to our interface with Attorney-General of the
Federation when the Bill is developed.

“And to
the National Assembly and to all of us, we seek your support to encourage us.
We are hoping that the Foundation should come perhaps much less than nine
months from now,” Bogoro said.

The TETFund
boss further appealed to Nigerian Navy to partner with TETFund in
promoting R&D in the country in order to bring about a knowledge-based
economy and ensure that security challenges are tackled by leveraging on
research output.

The 
Naval chief commended TETFund for the massive transformation of higher
educational institutions in the Nigeria.

According to
him, the Navy’s adoption of R&D is evidenced in the construction of ships
and other innovations, and called for support for Admiralty University,
Ibusa. He then pledged to provide all the inputs needed by the sub-committee to
enable them succeed in their mandate.

On a
courtesy visit led by Bogoro to the Minister of Defence, Maj-General Bashir
Magashi, he said the time had come for Nigeria to expedite action on the
establishment of the National R&D Foundation to address present
developmental challenges.

In his response,
the minister threw his weight behind the proposed R&D Foundation,
saying it had become necessary to enhance the development of home-grown
solutions to the various needs in every sector of the country.

The minister
assured TETFund of his full support for the  Foundation even as he
commended Bogoro for championing research in the country,

The
Coordinator of the Defence and Security Sub-committee, Air Vice Marshal
Onyemaechi Osahor, had earlier said the sub-committee’s aim was to ensure
self-reliance of the armed forces of Nigeria in platform and equipment holding
through collaborative research with academia and industry.

The
sub-committee on Defence and Security is among 13 others under the TETFund’s
Standing Committee on R&D, with Professor Njiddah Gadzama as chairman.