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By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has given assurance that it would support those with research findings capable of solving teething problems in all spheres of the economy with a $50 million Research and Development fund.
He lamented that a lot of research findings should have been commercialised to benefit mankind are gathering dust on the shelves, saying this was the narrative that the Board intends to change.
Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, disclosed this during a media briefing on the second edition of the NCDMB R&D Fair and Conference held in Lagos yesterday.
Wabote said a major drawback to R&D in the country has always been lack of funding, saying years back in the University, international institutes move in to fund research because they felt we had the best brains here in Nigeria, hence their decision to bring in funds to bankroll researches then.
‘‘But today, most of those research grants are drying up because they no longer fund them. That is why NCDMB decided to make available this fund. So it is a huge incentive because that is what researchers actually need.’’
Wabote hinted that the $50 million R&D fund was part of strategies aimed at supporting NCDMB’s aspiration of meeting 70 per cent local content by 2027, adding that the NCDMB has placed high premium on R&D oversight as a critical enabler in achieving the Board’s set targets.
The ES said the fund was meant for Nigerians within and outside the country that have research solutions to any of the challenges confronting the nation in all spheres, adding that the fund was not only restricted to oil and gas operations.
