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By Funmilayo Adeyemi

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has awarded N7.5 billion research grants to 174 research teams across Nigerian tertiary institutions under the 2025 National Research Fund (NRF) Grant Cycle.

The Executive Secretary, Mr Sonny Echono, announced this at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja, while releasing the outcome of the 2025 NRF grant selection process.

Echono said the grants were awarded following a rigorous and competitive process.

He explained that the process involved the submission and evaluation of concept notes, full proposals, oral defence and final selection by the TETFund NRF Screening and Monitoring Committee.

According to him, the value of individual grants ranges from N13.7 million to N49.98 million.

He said the funded projects covered key national priority areas, including health and social welfare, agriculture and food security, sustainable use of natural resources, science and engineering, power and energy and blue economy.

Other areas, he said, were innovation and technology in national defence, clean and affordable energy, education and human capital, gender equity and social inclusion, as well as conflict, defence and security.

The executive secretary said the Federal University of Technology, Minna, emerged as the highest-performing institution with 18 successful grants.

He added that the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, secured 11 grants, while Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, won 10.

Other institutions included the University of Ilorin with eight grants; Bayero University, Kano and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, with seven grants each; while University of Jos got six.

The University of Ibadan, University of Lagos and Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, secured five grants each.

Echono said some newly established federal universities also recorded successes in the grant cycle.

He identified the institutions as the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia; Federal University of Environment and Technology, Koroma/Saakpenwa, Ogoni; and the Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences, Iyin-Ekiti.

He also listed state-owned institutions that won grants as Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Ekiti State University, Kwara State University, Adamawa State University, Rivers State University and Sokoto State University, among others.

According to him, several polytechnics also secured grants, including the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro; Federal Polytechnic, Bida; and Federal Polytechnic, Nekede.

“Others are Federal Polytechnic, Moguno; Federal Polytechnic, Ile-Oluji; Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi; Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri; Yaba College of Technology; Kaduna Polytechnic; and Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic, Sokoto,” he said.

He added that beneficiary colleges of education included the College of Education, Katsina; Osun State College of Education, Ilesa; and Isa Kaita College of Education, Dutsin-Ma.

Echono congratulated the successful institutions and research teams, describing the awards as the “culmination of a transparent and highly competitive selection process”.

He said preparations would soon begin for the 2026 NRF Grant Cycle and encouraged researchers and scholars in tertiary institutions to take advantage of the opportunity by submitting concept notes for consideration.

Echono said the Federal Government had intensified support for research and development over the past four years as part of efforts to drive economic transformation and national development.

He said the government was leveraging the intellectual capacity of tertiary institutions to develop solutions that would improve resource utilisation, boost innovation, create jobs and address national challenges.

According to him, countries such as Singapore, South Korea, Brazil, India and China achieved rapid development by investing heavily in research and innovation.

“We believe that if we harness the intellectual talents in our tertiary institutions and deploy them efficiently, we will create new products and services, grow the economy and improve the living standards of our people.”

The executive secretary said the grant programme was also designed to prepare Nigerian researchers to compete successfully for international research grants.

According to him, Nigeria has moved from eighth to fourth position in Africa, in terms of research grant competitiveness over the past two years.

He said Nigerian scholars in the diaspora remained the highest-performing African researchers globally, expressing confidence that researchers within the country could attain similar levels of excellence with adequate support.

To accelerate commercialisation, Echono said the fund would host another NRF in November, where researchers would showcase innovations to investors, financial institutions, industries and start-up organisations.

He added that TETFund had created a national database of researchers and research outputs to facilitate access by potential investors and industry partners.

On accountability, Echono said the fund had not recorded significant cases of misuse of research grants due to its stringent monitoring mechanisms.

He explained that grants were disbursed in phases based on approved work plans and verified milestones, while project supervisors and monitors tracked implementation.

“Researchers do not receive the entire grant at once. Funds are released in tranches based on performance and progress reports,” he said.

The executive secretary, however, acknowledged that some projects experienced delays due to security challenges, personnel changes and other operational constraints.

He also highlighted several innovations already emerging from TETFund-supported research, including improved food preservation technologies, cleaner and more efficient gari processing systems and high-yield crop varieties.

“Other innovations are water purification technologies, renewable energy solutions, electric vehicles and locally designed automotive components,” he said.

Echono further disclosed that Nigerian researchers have developed prototypes for hearing aids, wind-powered cooling systems, compressed natural gas conversion technologies and fully indigenous vehicle designs.

He said some of the innovations were already in the market, while others were undergoing certification and scaling for commercial production.

He expressed optimism that stronger collaboration between academia and industry would accelerate the adoption of research outputs and contribute to Nigeria’s industrialisation drive. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Philip Yatai

Today, I boldly undertake a double task – to celebrate coaches who made things tick during the glorious years of National Grassroots Dream Team in Surulere, Lagos and to correct a major error that many people keep committing regarding the nomenclature for youth football in Nigeria.

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First and foremost, I earnestly celebrate four coaches who toiled willingly, committedly, untiringly, charitably and effectively in making National Grassroots Dream Team a household name for youth football development in Lagos State from 1988 to 2009.

Today, I doff my hat once again for the late Coach Anthony Onuoha (who was our foundation tactician in the highly-acclaimed centre of excellence), as well as Coach Chijioke Gabriel Osuagwu, Coach Osahon Emokpae and Coach Iyke Chijioke Anyaji.

I also quickly apologise to them for how I made them work for charity and did not try to turn the ‘goldmine’ we had into a money generating platform that could trive into the future through lucrative contracts with more than 200 hugely talented lads who turned up for three different rounds of training sessions (junior, intermediate and senior categories) every Saturday at White Sand Field, Orile Iganmu, Lagos.

When I see how several ‘uncertified coaches’ keep garnering huge amounts of money daily nowadays, in the name of training kids (including one of my sons) at so-called football academies, I simply confess that I was wrong to have run National Grassroots Dream Team as a charity venture. Instead of collecting registration fees from players, we paid them allowances instead from our personal funds!

Today, Coach Tony (aka Chief) is late and virtually forgotten. Coach Chijiioke was employed then dumped by Abia Warriors, Heartland and Enyimba. Coach Osahon recently suffered a major physical setback after serving as sole administrator of Badagry Division Football Association (BDFA). Coach Iyke toils on tirelessly but unsung in the interior localities of Ojo, Lagos.

They all served judiciously (but for free) as gaffers with the very busy and ubiquitous National Grassroots Dream Team. Together, we groomed seven players for the Super Eagles – Ayo Makinwa, Ifeanyi Emeghara, Kevin Amuneke, Femi Ajilore, Kazeem Ayila, Sunday Stephen and Nnamdi Oduamadi – but have no recent contacts with any of those former players in appreciation of their achievements.

Together we produced other top stars who shook Europe for some years – including Benjamin Onwuachi at Juventus of Italy, Daniel Chima Uchechi at Leicester City of England, Ezekiel Henry (Henty) at AC Milan of Italy, Rilwan Hassan at FC Midtjylland of Denmark, among many others – but nothing to show for us in the form of peps from their pro-contracts.

I hear Paul Ebere Onuachu is still in touch with Coach Osahon, but their connection was at his youth club, Young Stars FC of Satellite Town, Lagos – not at National Grassroots Dream Team. So, why have our direct products from National Grassroots Dream Team failed to keep in touch with people who worked to make them grow?

It all boils down to my insistence on treating them as sons instead of placing them on contracts that would yield long-term dividends to our team and provide emoluments for the coaches who worked for gratis. So, we could not get FIFA development grants on any of the lads we groomed.

Some even set up academies of their own after retirement, without thinking of continuing with the foundation that produced them. Many of them would rather credit the last step of their breakthrough and forget about their small beginning. So sad!

Today, I admit where I erred and I again beg for forgiveness from those four coaches who looked up to me to augment their future, but I disappointed … because I failed to realise that life is such a long road to travel on and human character changes along the way.

That’s why those players who appeared to be loyal and trustworthy as teenagers ended up thinking of self-first as fathers.

Call it the basic instinct of survival or a factor of assertiveness – especially in these days of harsh economic realities.

Apart from pleading for forgiveness from the coaches that I failed to make provisions for into their future, I hereby humbly appeal to football administrators, corporate bodies and philanthropic individuals to please kindly reach out with helping hands to uplift these true heroes before they die.

In the final analysis, I make bold to clarify that instances of the round leather game at youth and school levels are not the same as grassroots football.

Someone in the Baby Eagles, Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles is playing youth football, while anyone at Holy Ghost College, Sardauna College, CKC College, Baptist Academy or Saint Finbarr’s College is in school football – not at the grassroots.

Real grassroots football can only be seen when you go to interior places in Eket, Kafanchan, Gboko, Ubakala, Atakunmosa, Bwari, Ajangbadi, et al. Leave the city centre and visit the slums. Grassroots football occurs only in the distant community and suburbs of a city.

At the same time, while many teams now parade themselves as football academies, they must realise that it’s just in nomenclature alone and an abberation.

Can there be an academy without a hostel, training pitch, classrooms and proper academic curriculum owned by the team and officials of the ‘club claiming to be a school?’