By Omoyeni Ojeifo
Nigerian university researchers are to get stronger access to investors, industries and commercial opportunities as the Federal Government seeks to turn academic inventions into marketable products, businesses and jobs.
Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, called on the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to build stronger ties with universities surrounding its development hubs.
Addressing a gathering of Vice-Chancellors, postgraduate directors, and senior ministry officials, Alausa highlighted new avenues for joint initiatives between academia and the agency via the NASENI Campus platform.
“The Initiative would connect researchers with advanced laboratories, prototyping facilities, industry and investment, creating a pathway for promising ideas to move from the laboratory to the marketplace, the minister said in a statement by his Special Assistant (Media and Communications), Ikharo Attah, obtained by PerSecondNews on Tuesday.
The Minister emphasized that Nigeria must deliberately move from research to commercialisation if it is to fully benefit from its human capital, stressing that research outputs should not end as academic publications or prototypes.
Drawing lessons from the innovation ecosystem around Cambridge, Massachusetts, Alausa said Nigerian researchers should have opportunities to patent their inventions, develop them into marketable products and work with investors to establish viable companies.
He said stronger academia-industry partnerships would help turn Nigeria’s human capital into prosperity, adding that “this is how human capital can be converted into human development.”
Alausa stressed that NASENI could provide the missing link between academic research and commercial success by supporting patenting, connecting researchers with venture capital and facilitating the creation of spin-off companies.
He also challenged the agency to explore lithium processing and battery manufacturing as Nigeria expands its renewable energy and industrial capabilities, in line with efforts to build a $1 trillion economy.
In his earlier remarks, the EVC/CEO of NASENI, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, outlined the agency’s efforts to bridge research and production in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to move beyond prototypes and ensure innovations reach the production stage.
Halilu noted that the proposed NASENI Campus, located within a 100-hectare free trade zone, was being developed as an integrated environment where researchers, professors, prototyping facilities, industries and commercialisation opportunities could operate together.
“Several factories and industrial facilities have already been established within the zone, creating opportunities for research and innovation to connect directly with production,” he said.
On his part, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof. Hakeem Babatunde Fawehinmi, said the university’s existing partnership with NASENI demonstrated the potential of the model being advocated by Alausa.
“The collaboration has already produced an integrated agriculture incubation centre, greenhouse facilities, automated poultry systems and tissue culture laboratories supporting undergraduate and postgraduate research.”
Fawehinmi added that the university was ready to deepen the partnership in areas including dairy science and renewable energy.
Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Haruna Musa, said the institution was exploring expanded collaboration with NASENI in nanotechnology, vaccinology, toxinology and mathematical modelling.
Musa disclosed that two BUK research projects had reached the final stage of NASENI’s research commercialisation grant process, including a reusable sanitary pad project and the commercial production of sweet-potato-based starch derivatives.
Reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment, Alausa said the Ministry would continue working with NASENI, universities and other stakeholders to build a functional pathway from research and innovation to investment, production and job creation.
He stressed that under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the objective was not simply to produce more research, but to ensure that Nigeria’s knowledge, skills and innovations translate into products, enterprises, jobs and sustainable prosperity for Nigerians.
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