‘Come and showcase your work’ — Echono invites inventors to TETFund’s research and exhibition fair
Echono noted that the Fund fair is not for TETFUND-funded institutions alone.
By Idris Temidayo
Sonny Echono, the executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), says Nigerian inventors should come forward to showcase their talents at the five-day research and exhibition fair.
The research and exhibition fair, which will bring together inventors and creators to showcase their sellable projects and ideas, will start on November 17 at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Echono noted that the fund fair is not for TETFUND-funded institutions alone.
“It is not limited to our beneficiary institutions. So, research institutes, private inventors, and digital creators, if you know you have done anything that will lead to the creation of jobs, the development of products and services, or the improvement of the lives of our people, come and showcase,” he said.
“We aim at ensuring that we harness all the potentials and all the achievements that have been recorded in the area of innovation and creativity.”
According to recent reports, Nigeria has one of the largest annual turnouts of PhD holders in Africa.
But the country has not made so much progress in terms of inventions and innovations for industrialisation and national development, despite the potentials available in regional and sub-regional markets.
With the number of universities and other tertiary institutions in Nigeria, it is time to turn the institutions to innovation centres and reduce dependence on and importation of products and items that could be manufactured in Nigeria.
There is an urgent need to strengthen the Naira by boosting the production of made-in-Nigeria products and creating employment for the populace, especially the youth.
The research in our institutions must therefore be targeted at products relevant to the local economy and also to local needs.
