Education remains the bedrock of any sustainable development, especially, in a knowledge and technology-driven 21st century socio-economic dynamics. It is undisputable that no nation can achieve development without robust investment into science-based research. The phenomenal growth and development witnessed by China, Japan, Singapore and Western powers like the United States, Germany, France and United Kingdom were only possible through defiant scientific research.
Realising the indispensable role of education, especially science-based education, in bridging the gap between where Nigeria is and where it aspires to be, the federal government took the bull by the horn by establishing the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). Today, the federal government agency established on December 16, 2011, is a decade old.
In the opinion of Alexander the Great, “An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.” The forgoing underscores the pivotal role of cutting-edge leadership in the achievement of organisational goals and objectives. As a celebrated Researcher and academics himself, the choice of Prof Suleiman Elias Bogoro as the Executive Secretary of TETFund was the beautiful tune fortune played on the agency. As an insider, he knew exactly where the shoe pinches. Hence, he stepped into the leadership of TETFund with a clear roadmap.
One of the visible areas of deficit in higher institutions is infrastructure. Hitherto, the situation was pathetic, but 10 years after the establishment of TETFund, evidence, it is said, is the end of argument.
Another contradiction in Nigeria’s educational system before the establishment of TETFund and the coming of Bogoro’s leadership was the disconnect between research and industries which are supposed to be the end users of research products. A situation where research materials hip and drinking dust on the shelves of our higher institutions, worried Prof Bogoro so much, and that reflected in his approach to the leadership of Tetfund. He believe effective Research is a goldmine, upon assumption, he set out to breathe life into Nigeria’s research procedures so it will tilted towards developmental and problem-solving processes.
For too long in academia, researchers and scholars have been doing research for the sake of the next promotion. They publish in journals and they get acholades because have enough publications to their credit.
To solve this dilemma, the executive secretary, in September 2020, inaugurated a 165-member TETFund R&D Standing Committee. Now that the academia, the drivers of research and industry are on the same page, no more will research outcomes be gathering dust on the shelves of universities. That is the result-oriented leadership Bogoro has brought to TETFund 10 years after it was established.
Also, the decision of TETFund to start funding defense security research and development activities in the Nigerian defense and security sub-sector is one of the most profound achievements, especially against the backdrop of the huge capital flight as a result of arms importation. The move is to ensure Nigeria is self-sufficient in locally produced technology for Nigeria’s armed forces and other security agencies.
Nigeria is endowed with brilliant scholars of international repute but has continued to lag behind due to absence of consistent and committed investments in defense technology scientific research. This had brought untold shame and contempt to Nigeria as we go around the world to beg for arms to buy to prosecute the war against insurgency. Before now, scientific research was not given the attention it deserves. As a result, the country was spending huge resources to buy or import what ordinarily our scientists would have researched into and produced.
For instance, Nigeria spends billions of dollars on yearly basis to import military arms and hardware from countries that didn’t do anything spectacular other than prioritising scientific research.
As a result-oriented leader, Prof Bogoro vowed not to embark on any initiative that will not bear fruits. That is why his efforts to transform research and development in Nigeria have started yielding the desired results, with many industries and states governors buying into the idea. For instance, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and Innoson Motors, sometime ago, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the utilisation of locally-produced goods, signaling a step forward.
President Muhammadu Buhari must be commended for his determination to encourage science, technology and innovation as bedrock of development. TETFund, under Bogoro, has in line with President Buhari’s push keyed into the vision of aligning research in tertiary institutions with industry so that researches in higher institutions of learning will not only be for academic promotion. One of Bogoro’s major areas of concentration is a programme that seeks to advance the nation’s tertiary institutions through conduct of research, innovation and development activities. During his first stint, he floated the R&D department at the TETfund headquarter with the duty of stimulating, supervising and coordinating research and development activities in the public tertiary institutions.
Within 10 years, TETFund has gained credibility and is attracting some African countries like Ghana, Tanzania etc, who came to understudy Nigeria’s TETFund to enable them establish their own version of the Fund. The Fund is projecting Nigeria in positive light to the extent that international agency from the United States come to seek partnership with it.
Over the last decade, TETFund has prioritised academic staff training and development and funded scholars exclusively for PhD and Master’s degree programmes across the world. There’s no part of the world where you don’t find them: South, North America, Asia, up to Australia, Malaysia, UK, Germany and of course the United States, as well as across Africa.
Nothing is more heartwarming than for TETFund partnering and working out protocols that will lead to the signing of MoU with Fulbright Scholarship.
In a decade, because of the commitment and how transparently TETFund is being managed under Bogoro, Fulbright, a prestigious scholarship organisation said, “It took time to evaluate and assess TETFund and characterised it as a credible organization, even in managing scholarships, both locally and overseas.”
Under Bogoro, TETFund is free of corruption which had been a highly organised industry supported by a large and materially fortified army comprising of powerful mafia-like fraternities in public and private arenas. This is because on assumption of office, Bogoro deemed it as a matter of necessity to pilot the affairs of the Fund in line total commitment the Buhari administration has demonstrated in the war against corruption.
At 10, Prof Bogoro has consolidated on the gain of TETFund and has taken it to an enviable height. As he continues to redouble efforts at making research result-oriented, all that is required is support from all and sundry to ensure Nigeria takes its enviable place among the comity of nations.
Ibrahim is director, Communications and Strategic Planning, Presidential Support Committee (PSC)
