The federal government has approved N5,128,180,623 for the funding of 185 successful research proposals under the National Research Fund (NRF) grant cycle.
The NRF is coordinated by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The approval, which was conveyed by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, followed the report of the TETFund National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee which recommended the funding of the 185 research proposals after a rigorous screening exercise that commenced in March 2023 with the receipt of 4,287 Concept Notes from prospective applicants.
The organisation said this in a statement issued by its Acting Director, Public Affairs, Abdulmumin Oniyangi on behalf of the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono on Wednesday, January 17, in Abuja.
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The breakdown of the approval indicated that the “sum of N3,784,635,923.00 was approved for the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation thematic group; N759,875,400.00 for Humanities and Social Science while Cross Cutting received N583,669,300.63 with individual grants ranging between N8 million and over N46 million.”
The statement noted that some of the approved research works under the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation thematic group include Application of the Hydro-Biogeochemical Framework to Develop a National Rural Water Quality Assurance Plan for Sustainable Water Quality Management In Nigeria; Development and Use of Doubled Haploid Maize Lines for Improved Maize Yield and Tolerance to Armyworm (Spodoptera Frugiperda); 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, among others.
Projects under the Cross-Cutting thematic group include the Utilisation of Scrap Tires and Plastic Wastes as aggregate Conductive Material for Renewable Energy Storage Systems; the Development of Appropriate Technology for the Production of Aluminum Alloy Sacrificial Anodes for Applications in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry, as well as Development of an Economical Low Voltage Programmable Electroporator and Investigation of Pulse Electric Field for Wound Healing and Cancer Treatment; etc.
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Approved under Humanities and Social Science are Digital Financial Inclusion, Rural Households’ Consumption Structure and Well-being in Nigeria; Equity and Inclusion: Creating Access to Library Resources for Students Living with Vision Impairment in e-Learning Environment in Nigerian Universities and Mitigating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Frontline Nigerian Army Personnel using Stress Inoculation Therapy; and others.
“The National Research Fund (NRF) Grant was introduced by TETFund to encourage cutting-edge research which explores research areas relevant to societal needs of Nigeria such as power and energy, health, security, agriculture, employment and wealth creation etc., in line with its mandate. The intervention received additional impetus under the Renewed Hope Agenda as a veritable tool to grow the economy and improve the standards of living of the Nigerian people,” the statement added.