The University of Lagos (UNILAG) and 21 other institutions has secured a 5.5 billion grant under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund’s (TETFund) National Research Fund (NRF) programme. This aims to promote cutting-edge research and innovation in Nigeria. The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa initiative (ASR Africa) awarded the grant to 22 Nigerian universities and research institutions for infrastructure development and research projects.
What the UNILAG Grant Aims to Achieve
Under the ASR Africa Tertiary Education Grant Scheme (TEGS), each institution received N250 million ($617,000). UNILAG, which received the largest share of the TETFund grant, will use the funds to support research in areas such as renewable energy, nanotechnology, and health sciences. Other institutions that secured funding include the University of Abuja, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, and the National Veterinary Research Institute.
ASR Africa has donated a total of N11 billion ($27 million) to education in Nigeria. Education is one of the three core areas of intervention for ASR Africa, the other two being health and social development. The organization has also been working with the National Government and CSO in Niger and Ghana to increase access to education for the girl child in hard-to-reach rural communities.
The grant award is expected to boost research and development activities in the beneficiary institutions, facilitate collaborations between Nigerian researchers and their counterparts in other countries, and generate new knowledge and technologies that can be commercialized to create wealth and improve the quality of life of Nigerians. ASR Africa’s Social Development Specialist, Edidiong Idang, highlighted that the initiative will continue to partner with the government and private sector institutions in Nigeria and across Africa to support education.
Other institutions
Other institutions that benefitted from the grant include Bayero University Kano; Adamawa State University; Federal University of Technology Owerri and Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun.
Others are Nigerian Law School (Lagos); University of Uyo; University of Jos; Federal College of Education Technology, Gusau; Federal University Lokoja; Nasarawa State University; University of Port Harcourt, and Federal University of Technology Minna and Uthman Dan Fodio University.
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