TETFund’s Research Fair to Address Nigeria’s Challenges – Minister

Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, says the ongoing maiden edition Research Fair/Exhibition organised by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), is key to addressing some of the major challenges facing the country Nigeria.

Alausa stated this at a briefing to mark the beginning of the fair at Eagle Square in Abuja, Nigeria.

“I am excited and happy to inform you that this special effort of TETFund is meant to encourage our Academia composed of Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Research Institutes, the Military, and other personal/community creativities, to respond to many critical needs for our National Development.

“Nigeria is well blessed with abundant institutions, intellectual professionals, and natural resources. It cannot afford to divorce itself from the race and quest of the present trend of Nations’ evolving knowledge economies.

“Nigeria is facing a number of challenges including youth underemployment, poverty effects, insecurity, and infrastructure decay, but we believe that the contributions of professionals as will be seen in this National Research Fair will be greatly needed in tackling many of such challenges,” he said.

He said the President Bola Tinubu-led administration is ready to implement programmes and projects based on local Research and Technology outputs, stressing that no meaningful economic growth can be achieved without the full use of outputs of local research and technology efforts. He called for synergy among relevant research bodies across the country.

“This Research Fair will also address the desired synergy amongst all the relevant Research & Technology agencies to fast-track the deployment of their efforts and results towards nation-building. This synergy will ensure that the dividends of democracy are delivered efficiently and our Research and Innovation institutions that are now scattered in many ministries are well coordinated to be effective,” he said

He commended TETFund for deepening research in the country, explaining that President Tinubu has issued a directive that will see to the translation of National Research & Innovation results into marketable products to ensure job and wealth creation.

“The government is committed to deploying Research and Innovation tools to generate wealth and create wealth. In 2024 alone, Mr. President has approved the investment of N5 billion by TETFund to support research activities under its National Research Fund efforts to ensure that appropriate research is conducted in our public tertiary institutions to evolve solutions to many of our National development challenges,” Alausa posited.

The minister equally announced a restructuring of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system to ensure that 80 percent of the curriculum focuses on practical work, while 20 percent will be reset for theory.

He criticized the current structure of technical education, which emphasises didactic methods over practical experience.

“The way technical education has been structured is not the best because we focus heavily on didactics.

“We have met with the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to change the structure.

“We are now clearly changing the TVET structure from didactics to skill acquisition, we will now do 20 percent didactics and 80 percent practical, and that’s how we are going to move forward,” he said.

The minister also stated the need to realign the country’s education system to better address the needs of Nigerians, particularly in the area of lifelong skills.

“We have a unique demography in the world, 220 million people, with 70 percent of them under the age of 30.

“We need to work and give these young men and women, who are energetic, ready to learn, and contribute to this country, the right skills,” he said.