Three Nigerians Receive NOTAP-NITTF Academic Fellowships

The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP)-Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF) Scheme has awarded academic fellowships to three Nigerians.

As part of the academic prize, N1.5 million was also given to the beneficiaries, Ojo Joshua, Ruth Adeseye, and Bature Hafsat.

Dr Obiageli Amadiobi, the Director-General of NOTAP, stated in her remarks on Wednesday in Abuja that the program was created in response to the pressing need to close the significant gap between industry and research.

As a regulator of technology transfer from other nations into Nigeria, she claimed that NOTAP had noticed the lack of value creation due to the mismatch between industry and academia.

According to her, “NOTAP initiated key programmes such as the NOTAP Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF) to alleviate and address these challenges and gaps.”

“The programme serves as a platform through which industries will voluntarily invest resources to support the development of specialised personnel, strategic skills and provision of key technology acquisition in tertiary institutions,” Amadiobi said.

Read Also: NOTAP Awards Patent Certificates to 21 Nigerian Researchers, Inventors

NOTAP, in the implementation of this programme, is partnering with industries having technology transfer agreements registered.

According to her, the program’s goal is to provide fellowships to deserving, research-focused individuals so they can pursue a four-year PhD degree in any topic that is thought to be strategically important for the advancement of the country and pertinent to industry demands.

“NITTF is administered by NOTAP and its partners with the objectives of creating a pool of knowledgeable and skilled manpower that will facilitate technology acquisition, assimilation and diffusion,’’ Amadiobi said.

Additionally, she thanked Nestle Nigeria Plc and PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc for supporting the three recipients as they pursued their doctoral studies.

The gift, according to Mrs Esusbana Nko-Asanye, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (FMSTI), was an example of FG’s dedication to advancing and preserving the intellectual output of Nigeria’s educational system.

Nko-Asanye stated that the plan was designed to offer an effective procedure for the acquisition and domestication of foreign technology, as expressed by Mr. Dahiru Azuftama, the acting Director, of Technology, Acquisition and Adaptation FMSTI.

“NOTAP-Industry partnership initiative addresses the weaknesses and huge gaps in the process of acquiring and adapting imported technologies into Nigeria in 2009,” Nko-Asanye said.

He said that the NITTF program would enable Nigeria to catch up to the world’s most technologically advanced countries.

He claims that one of the programs is the NITTF, which aims to offer an effective procedure for acquiring and domesticating foreign technology.

“The scheme will serve as a platform through which industries will voluntarily support the process of building the needed critical mass of highly skilled knowledge workers.

“It also supports the development of specialised personnel, strategic managerial skills and provision of key technology acquisition process which are industrial Research and Development (R&D) capacities and capabilities,’’ he said.

Ruth Adeseye, a PhD candidate at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, who specialises in food processing research, thanked her sponsors, Nestle Nigeria Plc, on behalf of the recipients.

In addition to assuring food safety and individualised nutrition and health, she said her research would improve food availability and convenience and enable customers to consume a wider range of foods.

“I am grateful for the financial aid which will allow me to focus more on my research studies towards preserving nutritional quality of Nigerian foods,’’ she said.

NAN