By Joseph Erunke, ABUJA

President Bola Tinubu has approved the award of N4,249,626,817.69 grant for the funding of 158 research projects under the Tertiary Education TrustFund, TETFund, National Research Fund,NRF 2024 Grant Cycle.

The approval followed the report of the TETFund National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC) 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.

The acting Director, Public Affairs of the TETFund, Abdulmumin Oniyangi, disclosed this in a statement.

“A breakdown of the approval indicates that the sum of N2,349,951,630.43 was approved for the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) thematic group; N1,028,966,204.32 for Humanities and Social Science (HSS), while Cross Cutting (CC) received N870,708,982.94, “he said. 

According to him, “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, “he added. 

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

The National Research Fund (NRF) Grant was introduced by TETFund to encourage cutting-edge research which explore research areas relevant to societal needs of Nigeria such as power and energy, health, security, agriculture, employment and wealth creation etc., in line with its mandate. The intervention has received additional impetus under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR as a veritable tool to grow the economy and improve the standards of living of the Nigerian people.

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 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.