The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Mr Sonny Echono, has called on the the Research and Development Standing Committee (RSDC) of the fund to design an agenda to fast track research process in the country.
Echono said this in Abuja on Tuesday when he met with leadership of the committee, led by its Chairman, Prof. Anya Anya .
He expressed gratitude for the services and hard work that had already gone into the project, saying that Nigeria needs urgent steps to come out of its currently situation.
He said, “Our job is not done yet, in fact, we are almost still at the beginning and the task is not only significant but urgent.
“We have reached an important milestone in our national development that requires us taking new bearings, changing course, exploring all the alternatives to see how we can lift this country from where we presently are.
“You heard about Dubai but even Qatar is showcasing to the world now, a very small country and the whole of the world is watching and attention is focused on them.
” We have seen the type of infrastructure development that they have been able to bring to their people.
“No one can doubt the fact that Nigeria has one of the best brains in the world. Having assembled out best and given the dare circumstances and situation that we faced.
“So the agenda, as leaders, patriots and as people who have devoted all their life time to this quest, I urge you to take the lead in designing an agenda that can fast track this process.”
He promised to support the designing process saying that ‘”we are now at that point where every institution in this country is going to tell Nigerian people existentially what are you doing to them.
“How useful are you to them? How are you contributing to improving their condition? That is something TETfund wants to be able to showcase.
” And we are committed to making that investment and also harnessing the human and natural resources and deploying them but we need you as experts and leaders to drive it,” Echono added.
Earlier, Anya said the the importance of Science and Technology in reshaping the future of Nigeria couldn’t be overemphasised.
“The history of the contemporary world shows that those who embrace science and technology and operationalise it as instrument to development are now the knowledge societies around the world.
“I believe in the intention, the vision in all of us sitting here to hope that the lost time will be recovered and Nigeria will join those who use science and technology for development,” he said.
The RDSC of TETFund is a large group of over 150 members with 13 thematic areas of focus, with the task to fast track Nigeria’s global competitiveness in product development and service delivery.
The thematic groups include Agriculture, Environment and Bioresources, Medicine, Energy, Infrastructural Development, Education Pharmaceuticals, and Digital Economy, Petroleum, Fossils Resources Solid Mineral and Mining; Defence and Military; Governance, Social Development, amongst others.
