The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, has charged Nigeria’s universities to position themselves as centres for developing practical solutions to insecurity, unemployment and economic challenges facing the country.
Echono also enjoined them to channel their research efforts towards creating jobs, advancing innovation and promoting national development policies.
The TETFund boss spoke while delivering a lecture titled ‘Driving Development through Research and Innovation’ at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State. The lecture was a part of the activities for the 65th anniversary of the OAU.
He lauded OAU for growing in both stature and reputation as one of the leading universities that has produced many important manpower for the nation.
Noting that OAU hosts two of TETFUND’s centres of excellence, Echono said: “The institution established its footprints in terms of research output and outcome.”
“I would advise for the university to sustain this effort, to latch on to the current trend and to ensure that it becomes again a hub for all forms of research, innovation and learning and is directed at solving national problems, creating young men and women and imbuing them with the right skill sets so they can exploit opportunities in the national economy to grow this economy, to create jobs, to grow wealth and to deliver to us a shared prosperity for our people.”
He added: “Solutions are begging, we are looking for solutions in the areas of unemployment, in the areas of insecurity, in our Agriculture, in our Health, in our Energy sector.
‘’We believe universities are the hub where knowledge, creativity and ideas are incubated and where these are effectively harnessed.
“Nigerians will become more competitive on a global stage. We will produce young men and women who will be the leaders, not just in our administration, but also in our global drive to be a consequential country on the globe.”
Echono used the occasion to highlight what TETFund does across Nigerian universities.
His words: “We are improving infrastructure, establishing multipurpose research labs, and regional research labs. We are creating innovation hubs on all our campuses. We are upgrading ICT centres and establishing new ones. And all of these we are doing in huge numbers.
“We are establishing programmes, for example, the Student Innovation Fund, where students with good ideas, with promising ideas, will be supported up to ideation, production and adoption.
“We are promoting the development of start-ups. We are helping people to get patents, to register trademarks, and to also make a linkage between industry and academia.
‘’That way, the products of research and outcomes of research will translate into new products and services that will earn income for the researchers. It will help to improve the standard of living of our people and to grow our economy.”
Earlier, OAU Vice Chancellor Simon Bamire
said the event presents an opportunity to discuss issues that would enhance research and innovation with a view to speeding up the development of the country.
