TETFund Seeks Stronger Support to Drive Innovation, Boost Local Production, Create Jobs 

Funmi Ogundare

The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sunday Sylva Echono, yesterday, called for stronger national support to enable the Fund fully deliver on its mandate of driving innovation, strengthening local capacity, and reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported goods.

Echono who made the call at its 2025 Board of Trustees Town Hall Meeting, in Lagos, spoke on the transformative potential of TETFund’s interventions.

He stated that increased investment in research and development would translate into new ideas, new products, new services, and ultimately, more jobs for Nigerians across key sectors.

He stressed the Fund’s commitment to technological development especially in agriculture, for instance, would help replace crude, manual farming practices with modern, locally developed equipment and tools.

According to him, with improved access to technology, farmers would be able to identify high-yield crop varieties, efficiently apply fertilizers, adopt better irrigation systems, and mechanize their operations.

This, he said, would raise productivity, increase income, and attract more people into agriculture by removing the torture associated with traditional methods.

Beyond agriculture, the executive secretary emphasised the urgent need to curb illegal mining and channel the country’s mineral wealth into structured extractive industries driven by Nigerian expertise.

 He said empowering local professionals through quality tertiary education would ensure the country stops importing everything and begins refining its own resources.

Echono maintained that sustainable national development rests on the capacity of its people, noting that only deliberate investment in education can produce the skilled manpower required to harness Nigeria’s natural endowments.

“We are in tune with the President Tinubu’s desire,” he said. “We are working very hard to transform our beneficiary institutions, and in the years ahead, across all sectors, we are going to see more and more of those benefits.”

He thanked stakeholders for their continued partnership and expressed optimism that Nigeria would soon witness significant progress driven by homegrown talent and innovation.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, explained that the Fund is driving a systemic shift from infrastructure-heavy spending to a balanced model that prioritises human capital development, research commercialisation, entrepreneurship, and digital governance in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Addressing persistent power challenges, Masari announced the allocation of ₦70 billion in TETFund’s 2025 budget for the deployment of mini-grid energy solutions across selected campuses. The initiative, he explained, will reduce operational costs, improve research output, and create more conducive learning environments.

He stated that TETFund’s investments in the research ecosystem continue to yield tangible results, citing the TETFund Alliance for Innovative Research (TETFAIR), which has produced over 200 prototypes with commercialisation prospects, and the Research for Impact (R4i) programme, which has equipped 939 academics with skills to transform their ideas into market-ready products.

He revealed the Fund is scaling up the establishment of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hubs equipped with robotics labs, 3D printing units, renewable energy facilities, biotechnology and AI centres, and creative workshops.

“These hubs are transforming campuses into incubators of technology, creativity, and enterprise, while empowering students with practical skills that enhance employability,” he said.

Masari called for stronger collaboration among institutions, host communities, industry partners and alumni to ensure effective use and maintenance of TETFund-funded facilities, while commending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Minister of Education, and the management of TETFund for their leadership and support.

Professor of Strategy and Development, and Director General, Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Anthony Kila, explained that TETFund will only remain relevant to Nigeria’s future if it urgently transforms from an infrastructure-focused agency into a strategic engine for innovation, research commercialisation, and national competitiveness.

Kila, who spoke on, ‘Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Relevance of TETFund’, warned that Nigeria’s tertiary education system is facing an intellectual emergency.

He noted the country currently contributes less than 0.3 per cent of global research output despite a population of over 200 million.

He argued that the system’s long-standing problems, inadequate funding, low research productivity, poor infrastructure, and a disconnect between education outcomes and national development priorities form the context within which TETFund must evolve.

While acknowledging the Fund’s significant achievements over the years, including thousands of new lecture halls, laboratories and libraries, lecturer training, and support for academic publishing, Kila said the Fund must now move beyond bricks and mortar.

“TETFund is still necessary, but not in its current mode,” he stated. “To stay relevant, it must shift from being an infrastructure agency to a strategic driver of knowledge, innovation and competitiveness.”

An Anchor with Arise News and Columnist, Dr. Reuben Abati noted that TETFund remains a critical engine of Nigeria’s higher education, supporting infrastructure, research, academic training, and institutional capacity, but it must evolve to meet 21st-century challenges.

He emphasised that without TETFund interventions, many Nigerian universities, polytechnics, and colleges would face systemic collapse, with dilapidated lecture halls, laboratories, and ICT centres, alongside sharply reduced research output and weakened lecturer capacity.

“TETFund is indispensable, arguably one of Nigeria’s most impactful government interventions in education,” he said, adding that its role goes beyond funding buildings to creating public value through research, human capital development, and societal advancement.

In his presentation titled,’ TETFund in the Public Eye, Roles, Impact, Public Value and the Way Forward ‘, Abati noted the Fund has transformed campuses across the country, modern lecture halls, laboratories, libraries, ICT infrastructure, and digital learning platforms have improved teaching and learning, while scholarships and conference sponsorships have enhanced academic staff capacity and global competitiveness.

Yet, he acknowledged ongoing challenges, including bureaucratic delays, financial constraints, institutional weaknesses, political interference, and communication gaps that sometimes distort public perception of the Fund’s performance.

He proposed a forward-looking roadmap for TETFund, urging stronger transparency via digital dashboards, improved research management with industry/academia collaboration, capacity building for institutions, and strategic investment in frontier technologies such as AI, robotics, and biotechnology.

“Even exemplary performance can be overshadowed if communication is inadequate,” he said, stressing the need for proactive engagement with media, civil society, and stakeholders to showcase success stories and enhance public trust.