The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, has urged Nigerian universities to stop operating in isolation and start producing practical solutions to the country’s most pressing problems.
Echono made this call while delivering a lecture titled “Driving Development through Research and Innovation” at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, as part of activities marking the institution’s 65th anniversary.
He challenged universities to direct their research towards tackling unemployment, insecurity, agriculture, health and energy challenges facing Nigeria.
“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,” Echono said.
He described universities as the engine rooms where knowledge, creativity and ideas should be incubated and translated into real-world impact.
Echono praised OAU for its growing reputation and research output, noting that the university hosts two of TETFund’s centres of excellence.
He advised the institution to sustain its efforts and become a hub for research and innovation that creates skilled graduates capable of growing the economy and generating wealth.
“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,” he said.
The TETFund boss also highlighted ongoing interventions across Nigerian universities, including infrastructure upgrades, multipurpose research laboratories, innovation hubs and improved ICT centres.
He spoke about the Student Innovation Fund, a TETFund programme designed to support students with promising ideas from the ideation stage all the way to 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,” he added.
OAU Vice Chancellor, Simon Bamire, said the anniversary event was a valuable opportunity to advance conversations around research and innovation in support of national development.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
