The Award of Excellence recently presented to the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, by the Female Architects of Nigeria (FAN), reflects a growing consensus among tertiary education stakeholders and professional communities that the Fund has evolved significantly under his leadership.

From promoting research commercialisation and innovation to strengthening indigenous scholarship and institutional capacity, Echono has steadily repositioned TETFund as a catalyst for national development.

His latest call for intensified research into locally sourced building materials further underscores his commitment to ensuring that research conducted in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions translates into practical solutions to the country’s socio-economic challenges.

Speaking at the forum with FAN in Abuja, Echono lamented that despite enormous human and natural resources, about 80 per cent of the country’s building materials are imported. While acknowledging the progress recorded by some professionals within the built environment, he challenged indigenous architects to do more in advancing research capable of transforming the construction industry.

His concern reflects the disconnect between research and practical application. For decades, universities have produced numerous academic publications and ground-breaking studies that rarely find their ways into commercial production or industrial application. However, addressing that disconnect has become one of the Fund’s major priorities under its current leadership.

Since assuming office in 2022, Echono has consistently advocated a shift from research for academic promotion to research for national development. His position is that scholars must develop innovative solutions that address local problems.

This philosophy explains the increasing emphasis the agency places on research commercialisation and innovation. Through the National Research Fund and other strategic interventions, it has continued to support multidisciplinary research projects aimed at solving national challenges across sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, engineering, technology and education.

Echono has maintained that research outputs should not remain confined to libraries and academic journals but must become products, businesses and technologies capable of creating jobs and improving lives. That vision has increasingly defined the Fund’s interventions in recent years.

The annual National Research Fair and Exhibition has become one of the avenues through which innovative products developed by researchers are showcased to investors, policymakers and industry stakeholders. The initiative provides avenues for inventors and researchers to secure support that could transform their innovations into commercially viable enterprises.

Similarly, the TETFund Alliance for Innovative Research (i-FAIR) programme, implemented in partnership with the State of Israel and Innov8 Hub, has become one of the country’s foremost innovation platforms.

Since its inception, the initiative has supported more than 130 innovators, developed over 80 prototypes and contributed to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through innovative solutions designed by young Nigerians.

Only recently, the TETFund boss reaffirmed the Fund’s commitment to supporting the commercialisation of research outputs, describing innovation as indispensable to Nigeria’s socio-economic development. His administration has consistently emphasised the need to bridge the gap between academia and industry by creating ecosystems that encourage creativity, entrepreneurship and product development. This commitment has manifested in the establishment of innovation hubs and UniPods across beneficiary institutions.

Seven University Innovation Pods, one Polytechnic Innovation Pod and 12 innovation hubs are currently operational, providing students and researchers with opportunities to develop ideas into market-ready products and services.

Beyond innovation, Echono has equally demonstrated commitment to strengthening indigenous scholarship and knowledge production. Through the Book Development Intervention, TETFund has significantly reduced dependence on foreign-authored academic materials by supporting Nigerian scholars to publish textbooks across various disciplines.

His latest advocacy for locally sourced building materials aligns perfectly with this broader philosophy of promoting local content and reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imports. The implications are enormous.

Nigeria’s housing deficit remains significantly high, while the cost of imported construction materials continues to increase housing delivery costs across the country. Developing affordable, climate-responsive and sustainable building materials through locally driven research could substantially reduce construction costs, create employment opportunities and stimulate industrial growth.

For Echono, architects must therefore assume greater responsibility in driving this transformation.

While acknowledging that members of the profession have established successful businesses within segments of the construction industry, he maintained that much more remains to be done when measured against global standards.

The visit by the Female Architects of Nigeria further highlighted the possibilities that strategic collaborations between professional bodies and educational institutions can unlock.

In her remarks, the Chairperson of FAN, Arc. Ene Agada, proposed a strategic partnership between the association and TETFund aimed at advancing affordable housing, green building initiatives, mentorship programmes and professional capacity development in the country. According to her, the proposed collaboration aligns with TETFund’s mandate of promoting education, research and innovation while addressing critical national challenges, including housing deficits and environmental sustainability.

She identified affordable, inclusive and climate-responsive housing as one of the association’s priority areas and urged the Fund to support applied design research and prototype development for adaptable housing models suited to Nigeria’s realities. Beyond producing research findings, Agada advocated translating such outcomes into practical tools, including design manuals, implementation frameworks and policy guidelines capable of supporting housing stakeholders across the country.

Agada also called for joint initiatives aimed at strengthening research and technical skills in energy-efficient retrofitting and climate-responsive designs for public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and offices. She proposed support for demonstration projects on sustainable building materials and locally informed construction strategies that could be adopted by tertiary institutions and industry practitioners.

She further urged TETFund to consider sponsoring international exchange programmes, short courses and exposure opportunities for female architects with beneficiaries expected to transfer acquired knowledge to local professionals.