FG approves N4.7bn for TETFund research grants

The Federal Government has approved the sum of N4,736,782,352.21 for the award of 219 research grants to successful participants under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) National Research Fund (NRF) programme for the 2021 grant cycle.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Acting Director, Public Affairs of the fund, Mr Abdulmumin Oniyangi, and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday.

Oniyangi said the approval followed the report of the TETFund National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC) which recommended the funding of the 219 research proposals.

He said this was after a rigorous screening exercise which commenced with the receipt of 4,810 Concept Notes from prospective applicants in November 2021.

“A breakdown of the approval indicates that the sum of N3,066,156,844.61 was approved for the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) thematic group.

“N806,381,998 for Humanities and Social Science (HSS) while Cross Cutting (CC) received N864,242,509.60, with individual grants ranging from N4.5 million to over N41 million.

“Some of the approved research works tailored towards enhancing national development include Molecular epidemiology of recurrent cholera outbreaks in Nigeria and pre-clinical evaluation of indigenous medicinal plants for its management.

“Effective High Throughput Phenotyping and Artificial Pollination for Improved Yield in Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) with Autonomous Drone and Investigating Nigerian medicinal plants as sources of lead compounds for development of chemotherapeutic interventions for uterine fibroid and Production of Cartridge made from Hydrochar for the Treatment of Textile and Tannery Wastewater in Nigeria.

″Emerging Technology for Sustainable Water Purification using Biomass