The Federal Government has approved N4,736,782,352.21 as grants for 219 research proposals under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) National Research Fund (NRF) programme for the 2021 grant cycle.

This followed the report of the TETFund National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC), which recommended funding of the requests after a rigorous screening exercise that began with receipt of 4,810 concept notes from applicants in November 2021.

A breakdown of the approval indicates that N3,066,156,844.61 was approved for the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) thematic group, N806,381,998 for Humanities and Social Science (HSS), while Cross Cutting (CC) received N864,242,509.60, with individual grants ranging from N4.5 million to over N41 million.

Some of the approved research works tailored towards enhancing national development include molecular epidemiology of recurrent cholera outbreaks in Nigeria and pre-clinical evaluation of indigenous medicinal plants for its management.

Sanctioned under social sciences are development and evaluation of phytoestrogenic transdermal nanogel for management of menopausal symptoms and associated diseases; fabrication and characterisation of new glass series from rice husk and Bismuthb – tin ores for application in radiation shielding and green pathway for barite production towards decarbonisation of the mining sector in Nigeria, among others.

The National Research Fund (NRF) grant was introduced to encourage cutting-edge research on the country’s societal needs like power and energy, health, security, agriculture, employment and wealth creation