NCC Restates Commitment to Fund Academic Research in Schools

Emma Okonji

Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Adeolu Akande, has restated the commitment of the Commission to commit more funds to research and prototypes, resulting from grants from the Commission to the academia.

This is coming at the backdrop of the recent revelation that the Commission has commitment more than N500 million in funding research across the Nigerian universities.

Akande told a gathering of Vice Chancellors and professors from universities in the southern parts of the country at a roundtable conference at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos that the Commission would continue to acknowledge the importance of working with stakeholders to engender innovations and build indigenous technological capabilities that would strengthen the ICT ecosystem. 

 “We want to use this opportunity to assure you that the Commission will continue to give support to the educational sector in the interest of national development. We will also continue to encourage research and innovation in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions,” Akande said, explaining that the essence of the roundtable is to dialogue with the academia, industry and other stakeholders on how research efforts and prottotypes can be transformed into commercially viable products that solve real-life problems.

“Consequently, the Commission will continue to allocate the requisite resources to research, development and innovations necessary for the industry to continue to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country,” Akande said. 

Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, represented by the Director, Legal and Regulatory Services of the Commission, Josphine Amuwa, said academia remained a key driver of innovation in all spheres of human endeavour.  He said this was why his leadership at the Commission is determined to not only give grants to the academia but also support the commercialisation of these prototypes to deepen the indigenous technological capabilities, which would support the overall development of the industry.