Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono has challenged Nigerian universities to prove themselves as centres for researching practical solutions to the country’s persistent challenges of insecurity, unemployment and other national problems.
This charge was contained in his lecture titled: ‘Driving Development through Research and Innovation’ delivered Thursday as parts of activities marking the 65th anniversary of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State
While celebrating OAU, he charged the institution and other universities across the country to channel their research efforts toward tackling societal problems, creating jobs, advancing innovation and supporting government policies aimed at national development.
Echono observed that OAU has grown in both stature and reputation as one of the leading universities in the country and one that has produced significant manpower for the national economy.
He disclosed that the institution hosts two of TETFUND’s centres of excellence, one of the very few that do so, adding that “the institution established its footprints in terms of research output and outcome.”
“I would advise for the University to sustain this effort, to latch on to the current trend and to ensure that it becomes again a hub for all forms of research, innovation and learning and is directed at solving national problems, creating young men and women and imbuing them with the right skill sets so they can exploit opportunities in the national economy to grow this economy, to create jobs, to grow wealth and to deliver to us a shared prosperity for our people,” he said.
The Executive Secretary continued that: “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. We believe universities are the hub where knowledge, creativity and ideas are incubated and where these are effectively harnessed.
“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.”
Revealing what TETFund is doing across universities, he said, “We are improving infrastructure, establishing multipurpose research labs, regional research labs. We are creating innovation hubs on all our campuses. We are upgrading ICT centers and establishing new ones. And all of these we are doing in huge, to scale, huge numbers.”
