The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund ), has pledged to support the Defence Research and Development Bureau (RDB) for its research and development plans.
Speaking while receiving the Director General of RDB, Rear Admiral K.J. Odubanjo and his team in his office in Abuja , the Executive Secretary of TETfund, Sonny Echono said there was need to be able to harness all the resources available to us as a country.
Echono disclosed that traditionally, the military had played very significant role in the technological and scientific development across the globe.
“I want to underline the fact that we at TETFund recognise the important role that agencies like yours, play in national affairs.
‘I recall the privilege of presenting the paper at one of your functions about a year or two ago, and then all the contributions pointed in one direction.
“As a country hungry for development, faced with serious challenges ranging from insecurity to unemployment to dependence on foreign goods and services, we need to be able to harness all the resources available to us.
“And traditionally, the military have played very significant role in the technological and scientific development across the globe.
“We recall with a lot of satisfaction the internet we enjoy today had its origins from the military, similarly, the Global Positioning System.
“When we talk about Google Maps, all the things that we do, even if we use them for location finding, for traffic and so on, once again develop for military purposes.
“Now we have countries where even medical equipment, medical drugs, and these are being distributed using drones.
“So a whole lot can happen if we are able to create, build a bridge, have synergy between the military, defense establishment, particularly the research component”.
He noted that recently, the federal government inaugurated a Committee on the Commercialisation of research findings.
He said all products of research would now have support translating them from prototypes to actual products and finding partners who would invest and take them forward as services or goods for consumption by the general public.
“Indeed, just today we signed a landmark MoU with NACCIMA for us to jointly auto promote this agenda.So last year we created a new thematic area.
“We used to have 13 thematic areas under our National Research Fund Granting Committee. But in recognition of the importance and growing importance of the military, we created a new thematic area for military and defense research,” he said.
Earlier, the Director-General of RDB, Rear Admiral K.J. Odubanjo, said the goal of the agency was to improve on what existed before him.
According to him, progress is only possible when we work with the right partners, because no institution can operate in isolation.
“The RDB has the mandate to coordinate research activities across the country, especially defence-related innovations, and to create a strong link between military and civilian institutions.
“For example, an airboat currently in use was originally conceived through RDB-supported research. Although RDB did not physically build it, the concept was developed internally and handed over to a designated company to produce.
“It was designed for defence operations, but after its public demonstration, other agencies showed interest,” he said.
He explained that the Nigeria Customs Service had already requested its own units, and RDB is now working with the company to deliver them.
“Similarly, RDB collaborated with private partners to develop night-vision goggles. They have been tested, certified, and approved. The Enugu State Government has also indicated interest in procuring some of these devices through RDB”.
He, however, said one major challenge it faced was inadequate funding.
“We have the ideas and the experts, including university researchers and professors we already collaborate with, but research cannot move forward without financial support.
“We cannot expect partner organisations to provide 100 per cent of the resources; we must also contribute. This is why the intervention of TETFund is vital,”he said.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.