The Nigerian government on Wednesday announced the approval of N5.1 billion for funding 185 successful research proposals for the 2023 grant cycle under the National Research Fund (NRF) of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). .
This appears in a statement from TETFund and signed by the agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Abdulmumin Oniyangi.
According to the statement, the approval is a continuation of the government’s efforts “aimed at boosting research and development for economic and technological development in Nigeria through President Bola TinubuThe administration”.
Selection
Oniyangi said the approval given by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, followed the report of the Selection and Monitoring Committee of the National Research Fund TETFund, NRFS&M.
He said the committee recommended the “funding of 185 research proposals after a rigorous selection exercise that began in March 2023 with the receipt of 4,287 concept notes from potential applicants.”
According to the statement, a total of N3 billion was approved for the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) cluster; the sum of N75 million for Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), while Cross Cutting (CC) received N58 million “with individual grants ranging from N8 million to over N46 million.”
The statement reads in part: “Some of the research work approved under the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) thematic group includes the Application of the Hydrobiogeochemical Framework to Develop a National Rural Water Quality Assurance Plan for the Sustainable Management of Water Quality. in Nigeria; Development and use of duplicated haploid maize lines to improve maize yield and tolerance to fall armyworm (Spodoptera Frugiperda); Development of a multi-chamber intelligent evaporative cooling preservative system for post-harvest storage of selected fruits in Nigeria; and Development of Electric Vehicles with Special Tracking Functions, among others.”
He also revealed that the projects under the Transversal thematic group include; the use of waste tires and plastic waste as added conductive material for renewable energy storage systems; Development of suitable technology for the production of aluminum alloy sacrificial anodes for applications in the Nigerian oil and gas industry; Development of a low-cost programmable low-voltage electroporator and investigation of pulsed electric field for wound healing and cancer treatment; among others.
“In Humanities and Social Sciences, digital financial inclusion, consumption structure and well-being of rural households in Nigeria are approved; Equity and inclusion: creating access to library resources for students living with visual impairment in e-learning environments in Nigerian universities and mitigating post-traumatic stress disorder among frontline personnel of the Nigerian military through stress inoculation therapy; and others,” TETFund added.
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TETFund noted that TETFund introduced the National Research Fund (NRF) grant to encourage cutting-edge research aimed at exploring research areas relevant to Nigeria’s social needs such as energy, health, security, agriculture, employment, wealth creation. etc., in accordance with the agency’s mandate.
“The intervention was given additional impetus under the Renewed Hope Agenda as a veritable tool to grow the economy and improve the living standards of the Nigerian people,” the statement said.