‘Sustainable energy, cholera outbreaks’ — FG approves N4.7bn for 219 TETFund research grants

The federal government has approved the sum of N4.7 billion for the award of 219 research grants to “enhance national development”.

Abdulmumin Oniyangi, director of public affairs for the Tertiary Education Trust (TETFund), announced this in a statement on Monday.

Oniyangi said the grants were given to successful participants under the TETFund national research fund (NRF) programme for the 2021 grant cycle.

He added that the grants followed the report of the TETFund national research fund screening and monitoring committee (NRFS&MC) which recommended the funding of the 219 research proposals.

According to him, the successful participants were selected after a “rigorous screening exercise”.

A breakdown of the grants showed the sum of N3,066,156,844 was approved for the science, engineering, technology and innovation (SETI) thematic group, while humanities and social science (HSS) got N806,381,998.

Cross-cutting (CC) also got N864,242,509 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,” the statement reads.

“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 waste; all under the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) thematic group.

“Projects under cross-cutting thematic group include design and fabrication of efficient solar energy storage system for electricity generation to rural communities; adaptation of conventional septic tank to bio-digester for sustainable energy generation and viable economy for households use in Nigeria and development of polymer-silcrete blocks and pozzolanic cement concrete for integrated and sustainable mass housing in Nigeria, amongst others.

“Approved under social science are development and evaluation of phytoestrogenic transdermal nanogel for the management of menopausal symptoms and associated diseases; fabrication and characterisation of new glass series from rice husk and bismuth-tin ores for application in radiation shielding and green pathway for barite production towards decarbonisation of mining sector in Nigeria, amongst others.”

The NRF grant was introduced to fund research into critical sectors of the economy such as power and energy, health, security, agriculture, employment, and wealth creation.