The European Union has committed to provide 440,000 euro to support shortlisted research teams in the country under the Horizon Europe Project.
This is a move by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to attract major international research grants to Nigerian scholars.
Mr Tope Toogun, who heads TETFund’s team on Horizon Europe programme, made this known in Abuja while briefing the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sunny Echono, on ongoing efforts to ensure Nigerian researchers’ participated in the global renowned research project.
Toogun explained that in spite the rich human resources in the country, researchers had before now, taken the back seat in accessing grants for the EU Horizon project.
He noted that the situation was now changing for the better as a result of TETFund’s engagement with the EU and its decision to set up a team to address challenges preventing Nigerian researchers from participating in the project.
“It is embarrassing that Nigeria with all our intellectual capital, cannot participate in Horizon. The EU works in terms of seven-year framework.
“The current one is Horizon Europe, the previous framework was called Horizon 2020 and it ran from 2013 to 2020.
“Africa got about 350 projects, out of which South Africa alone got 146, Egypt and Morocco got between 50 and 70, Kenya got 46.
“Nigeria was not on the radar. It doesn’t mean we have not been participating, we have been on the sideline,” he said.
He further identified the inability of Nigerian researchers to organise and prepare sufficiently for the Horizon project as one of the major impediments which prevented them from accessing the grants.
He said there was, therefore, need by TETFund to set up the team in order to clear all the hurdles.
“We have shortlisted initial 60 research teams from about 400 of applications and the EU Commission has committed to the provision of a facility of 440,000 euro in technical assistance.
“This is to support the development of capacity in what we come up with in this programme that TETFund has initiated.
“The research teams we have identified, we are going to do an intensive physical training programmes for them in September and in that training, one of the key components will be on EU project management competency,” he said.
Toogun also said his team had developed the National Contact Point (NCP) network for Nigerian researchers and uploaded it the global portal, adding that it was a major requirement in accessing the grant.
”We have also deployed research management software, all the 400 research teams will be uploaded in this platform,”he added.
Also speaking, the TETFund’s Executive Secretary,Sonny Echono, said the agency was fully committed to ensure Nigerian researchers were competitive in the International arena.
Echono said the Fund also targeted other global research bodies to attract grants for scholars in the country.
Echono, who said research and innovation remained a major way to address all the challenges in the country, said TETFund would leave no stones unturned to champion schemes that would deepen research in the country.
“The move is to ensure that Nigerian researchers break this glass ceiling.
“It is very embarrassing when we read and see international publications that smaller African countries, countries like South African, Egypt, Algeria and even Kenya tend to be participating more and getting more research grants from these development partners, particularly the EU,” Echono said.
