TETFUND’S INTERVENTION IS TRANSFORMING NIGERIA’S RESEARCH & INNOVATION SECTOR
It is not an exaggeration that the tasks of socio-economic development have been burdensome to millions of Nigerians. The nation’s political economy realm despite abundant human and natural resources also had witnessed incompatibility in the dynamism of economic growth and development that are expected from conversion of endowments into national wealth and also for the general improvement of citizen’s socio-economic wellbeing. The outcomes of most previous developmental efforts for many Nigerians had produced only crestfallen effects. With its over 200 million population and other endowments, Nigeria has no business being poor. However the nation was first declared World’s poverty capital in 2018 in a report by the Brookings Institution, knocking off India from the position. Sadly, the report added that the number of Nigerians in extreme poverty increases by six people every minute. One would be tempted to ask what the problems are with Nigeria.
It was Professor Osita Ogbu, Nigeria’s erstwhile Economic Adviser who once observed
“there exists incontrovertible evidence that development is not driven by savings but by inventiveness, innovation and ideas generated through research, science and technology and the principal anchor and leader of this process must be the government” – Professor Osita Ogbu
Innovation Nigeria news media therefore applauds the new TETFUND under the Executive Secretary, Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, a development expert, academia, technocrat, prolific researcher for his passion to raise the bars, awareness and motivation of making research and innovation become a focal point in national discourse and for socio-economic planning. Bogoro is providing fresh impetus towards achievement of a development oriented; need driven Nigeria’s research and innovation sector under the auspices of the fund.
As practical steps in this direction, we noted recent remarkable establishment of the TETFUND Research and Development Standing Committee (RDSC) which was inaugurated in September 2020, approved by its Board of Trustees (BOT) to redefine focus and drive a paradigm shift in research and development (R&D) enterprise for the country.
In this whole process, the Government is to provide enabling environment through standardising weights and measures, legal regulations and to facilitate social regulations.
The above being the necessary key ingredients to ensure proper linkages and realization of a knowledge-based economy through R&D to be made possible by the coming on stream of the National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF). The existence of NRDF would bridge existing gaps and fine-tune the focus which would place Nigeria’s R&D on a firm pedestal. The main goal of RDSC is therefore to fast tracking Nigeria’s global competitiveness in product development and service delivery by leveraging innovation systems led by R&Ds.
The above being the necessary key ingredients to ensure proper linkages and realization of a knowledge-based economy through R&D to be made possible by the coming on stream of the National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF). The existence of NRDF would bridge existing gaps and fine-tune the focus which would place Nigeria’s R&D on a firm pedestal. The main goal of RDSC is therefore to fast tracking Nigeria’s global competitiveness in product development and service delivery by leveraging innovation systems led by R&Ds.
Amongst sundry development indicators, the present facts on the table include TETFUND’s unceasing interventions in the education field and allied areas rubbing positively on the Nigerian economy. This is quite commendable. The presence and activities of the Fund in research and innovations generally are giving a boost and encouragement for growth of the culture of science and technology innovation in the Nigeria environment. With TETFUND’s funding supports to research and science, engineering and technology, the Nigerian tertiary institutions have continued to gain laudable recognition in Africa and beyond. This gesture is an extra-ordinary leadership role in championing the provision of a conducive funding environment for research and development (R&Ds) and technology innovation activities in the country.
Historically in the 90s, the administration of then Nigeria’s Military President, Ibrahim Babangiga, while mindful of the reality of the situation, took measures to arrest the funding constraints of the nation’s tertiary educational sector. The Federal Government constituted a Commission on the Review of Higher Education in Nigeria. However, since 1980s, the decay of all tiers of education was monumental. Facilities had almost collapsed, teachers and lecturers morale was at its lowest. The enabling environment for conducive teaching and learning was absent. The Longe Commission recommended amongst others the funding of higher education through earmarked tax to be borne by companies operating in Nigeria. An implementation committee under the chairmanship of Professor Olu O. Akinkugbe was constituted to implement the Commission report and recommendations which led to the establishment of TETFUND previously known as Education Tax Fund (ETF). In January 1993, the Education Tax Act No7 of 1993 was promulgated alongside other education related Decrees. The Decree imposed a 2% tax on the assessable profits of all companies in Nigeria. This was a home grown solution to address issues of funding to rehabilitate decaying infrastructure, restore the lost glory of education and confidence in the system as well as consolidate the gains thereto; build capacity of teachers and lecturers; teacher development; development of prototype designs; etc.
As at June, 2021, TETFUND interventions in the tertiary education sector in Nigeria cover 84 government universities out of which 40 of them are run by the federal government and 34 are run by various state governments; 60 government polytechnics and 57 colleges of education. The implication of the above is that with the growth in number of public tertiary institutions, there is corresponding increasing demand for funding from the Fund. The specific objectives of TETFUND include provision of funding for the educational facilities and infrastructural development; to promote creative and innovative approaches to educational learning and teaching and even services; to stimulate, support and enhance improved activities in educational foundation areas like teachers’ education, teaching practices, library development etc, to champion new literacy-enhancing programmes as scientific information and technology literacy; to manage education tax in a way that is most beneficial to the Nigerian people.
Innovation Nigeria is in support fully the current legendary efforts by TETFUND to achieve a Nigeria high quality tertiary education driven by research and innovation in the 21st century, and to provide the right human resource and inventiveness, skills and other ingenuity for the emergence of Nigeria’s own industrial cum knowledge economies while guaranteeing her citizen’s participation pari passu in the digital age.
