TETFUND: Nigerians to benefit as EU commits €440k to support research projects

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) says the European Union (EU) will provide €440,000 to support 60 shortlisted research teams in Nigeria under the Horizon Europe Project. 

Tope Toogun, Horizon Europe programme head at TETFUND, spoke on Thursday in Abuja while briefing Sunny Echono, the fund’s executive secretary.

Toogun lamented that researchers in Nigeria have been lagging behind in accessing grants from the EU Horizon project. 

He said the situation is now changing for the better following TETFUND’s engagement with the EU which resulted in its decision to set up a team to address challenges preventing Nigerian researchers from participating in the project. 

“It is embarrassing that Nigeria, with all our intellectual capital, cannot participate in Horizon,” Toogun said. 

“The EU works in terms of 7-year framework. The current one is Horizon Europe, the previous framework was called Horizon 2020 and it ran from 2013 to 2020.

“Africa got about 350 projects, out of which South Africa alone cornered 146, Egypt and Morocco got between 50 and 70, and Kenya got 46, Nigeria was not on the radar.

“It doesn’t mean we have not been participating, we have been on the sideline.

“We have shortlisted initial 60 research teams from about 400 of applications and the EU Commission has committed to the provision of a facility of 440, 000 euros in technical assistance to support the development of capacity in what we come up with in this programme that TETFund has  initiated.

“The research teams we have identified, we are going to do an intensive physical training programme for them in September and in that training, one of the key components will be on EU project management competency.”

On his part, Echono said the agency is fully committed to ensuring that Nigerian researchers become competitive in the international arena.

He added that the TETFUND is also targeting other global research bodies to attract grants for scholars in the country. 

Echono, who said research and innovation remain a major way to address all the challenges in the country, said TETFund would leave no stone unturned to champion schemes that will deepen research in the country.