TETFund to Disburse N7.5b as 2020 Research Grant.
The Nigerian President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) has approved an increase in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) National Research Fund from 3.5 billion naira to 7.5 billion naira for the year 2020.
This was made known by the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, at the 2020 TETFund Board of Trustees (BOT) Retreat in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, Prof. Bogoro said Buhari also approved the establishment of six medical simulation research and clinical training facilities in six colleges of medicine in each geopolitical zone within the year.
He said the approval provided an opportunity for the TETFund to provide 12 COVID-19 and related infectious diseases molecular laboratories, two in each geopolitical zone, “making the Fund the highest single provider of COVID-19 test centres in Nigeria”.
The TETFund boss added that “the BOT also approved that TETFund sponsors some COVID-19 Research proposals to the tune of over 200 million naira, mainly from Universities and NAFDAC, this being one of the reasons TETFund has recently been made the secretariat for the Nigeria Covid-19 Research Consortium.”
Also speaking during the retreat, the new TETFund BOT Chairman, Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim- Imam highlighted some of the key achievements of the Fund between 2016 and 2019.
He stated that that TETFund had within this period funded 80 auditorium lecture theatres, 500 classrooms, 2383 administrative and staff offices and 250 science laboratories across beneficiary institutions in the country.
Also funded were 40 fully equipped libraries, 38 ICT centres, 8 medical centres and bays, 100 vehicles for academic field research trips and provision of major infrastructure in the 12 newly established federal universities.
Alhaji Ibrahim-Imam stated that to further consolidate on TETFund’s achievements, the Fund has made provision in its 2020 Budget for emergency special intervention to the University of Abuja and special high impact projects to six universities, one from each geo-political zone.
He also noted that the agency will also provide take–off grants to the six newly created federal polytechnics and six colleges of education in each geo-political zone among other projects.
The BOT Chairman expressed the determination of the Board to build on what has been achieved at TETFund and improve the management of the Fund’s interventions in public tertiary institutions in the country.