The Federal Government is seeking to unlock private-sector funding for research and innovation as it moves to establish a National Research and Innovation Development Fund.
The proposed agency is expected to provide sustainable financing for research projects and help move Nigerian inventions from laboratories and universities into commercial use.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Kingsley Udeh, disclosed this on TVC News’ Beyond the Headlines, saying the Federal Executive Council had approved the establishment of the funding agency.
Udeh said a bill had been forwarded to the National Assembly to provide the legal framework for the agency.
He said the initiative followed the government’s finding that Nigeria had substantial research and scientific innovations but lacked the funding required to turn them into commercially viable products.
“So we understood that it would require some consensus effort, intentionality, to take these research outcomes from the shelves, from the files, into supporting them to the market,” he said.
According to the minister, the objective is to enable researchers and innovators to generate revenue from their work while contributing to economic growth and boosting Nigeria’s GDP.
The proposed fund is expected to draw financing from multiple sources, including government allocations and contributions from companies under provisions of the Tax Act that recognise expenditure on research and development.
Udeh said the exact size of the fund could not yet be determined because contributions would be calculated as percentages on a yearly basis, but assured that “it’s going to be significant”.
He said the fund would not be controlled solely by government, with researchers, innovators, private-sector representatives and other stakeholders expected to sit on its governing council.
“Now, of course, this fund would be governed by a council made up of not just government people, but innovators themselves, researchers, and it’s guided by global standards,” Udeh said.
The minister said private-sector contributors would have an interest in how the fund was managed because companies would be able to direct part of their qualifying research and development expenditure into the initiative.
He said the framework would also align Nigeria with the Science Granting Councils Initiative of Africa.
Udeh said the government’s priority was to ensure research funding reached projects capable of moving from prototype development to commercialisation.
Beyond the proposed fund, the government is also working on an Innovation Hub and Innovation Grid to create a national database of research, inventions and innovations across sectors.
Udeh said the agreement for the project was undergoing screening by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
He said the Innovation Grid would enable investors and industry players to identify research outcomes and intellectual property available in Nigeria and connect with the universities and research institutions behind them.
The minister projected that the project could generate about $10bn, equivalent to approximately N13.6tn, annually for Nigeria.
He said the project would be financed outside government, with investors expected to generate returns from their participation.
“This is a project that will pay itself. The investors will make money out of this project,” Udeh said.
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