FG approves N5.1bn for 185 TETFund research projects

The federal government has approved N5,128,180,623.63 for the award of 185 research grants, which would be overseen by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

Tahir Mamman, the minister of education, said the approval followed the report of the TETFund National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC) which recommended the funding of the 185 research proposals.

He said the recommendation came after a screening exercise in March 2023 received 4,287 concept notes from prospective applicants.

A breakdown of the approval, he said, indicates that N3,784,635,923 was approved for the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) thematic group.

N759,875,400 was set aside for Humanities and Social Science (HSS) while Cross Cutting (CC) received N583,669,300.63.

Individual grants, it is understood, ranges between N8 million and over N46 million.

Among the approved research works under the SETI thematic group is a project titled: ‘Application of the Hydro-Biogeochemical Framework to Develop a National Rural Water Quality Assurance Plan for Sustainable Water Quality Management In Nigeria’.

Also included is the ‘Development and Use of Doubled Haploid Maize Lines for Improved Maize Yield and Tolerance to Armyworm (Spodoptera Frugiperda)’.

Another is the ‘Development of an Intelligent Multichamber Evaporative Cooling Preservative System for Post-Harvest Storage of Selected Fruits in Nigeria and Development of Electric Vehicle With Special Tracking Features’.

Projects under the cross-cutting thematic group include the “Utilization of Scrap Tires and Plastic Wastes as Aggregate Conductive Material for Renewable Energy Storage System”.

Also included is the “Development of Appropriate Technology for Production of Aluminum Alloy Sacrificial Anodes for Applications in Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry”.

A third in this group is the “Development of an Economical Low Voltage Programmable Electroporator and Investigation of Pulse Electric Field for Wound Healing and Cancer Treatment”.

Approved under the HSS group is “Digital Financial Inclusion, Rural Households’ Consumption Structure and Well-being in Nigeria”.

The National Research Fund (NRF) Grant was introduced by TETFund to encourage cutting-edge research which explores areas relevant to the societal needs of Nigeria such as power and energy, health, security, agriculture, employment and wealth creation.