Nigeria’s Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has unveiled a wave of homegrown innovations aimed at solving pressing societal problems, following a year-long training programme under the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI).
The scheme, run in partnership with Kenya’s African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) and Nigeria’s Innov8 Hub, equips researchers to transform academic work into commercially viable solutions. Four research teams from 14 institutions shared in a $250,000 grant secured by TETFund in 2023, funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Prototypes displayed in Abuja ranged from clean energy solutions to tools for tackling waterborne diseases. Researchers praised the hands-on mentorship, saying it shifted their focus from “publishing papers” to developing products that meet real-world needs.
TETFund executive secretary Sonny Echono said the projects, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, showed how collaboration between government, academia and industry could create jobs and drive innovation. “We are funding a movement, not just prototypes. The goal is to make Nigeria a hub of African ingenuity,” he said.
