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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) in sub-Saharan Africa (5GC) has announced that Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has joined the initiative to advance research excellence in sub-Saharan Africa.
TETFund in a statement yesterday confirmed the development, saying joining the Council would open more windows of opportunity for both organisations promote education, technology and other related benefits.
TETFund Executive Secretary, Prof. Suleiman Elias Bogoro, admitted that national growth and competitiveness in the context of globalised economy depends very much on continuous technological improvement and innovation driven by a well-organised vibrant research and development system.
“We are confident that our admission into SGCl will open a new window of opportunities that will provide platforms that can serve as a fulcrum in achieving our goals of Nigerla’s transition to a knowledge economy in the 21 century. We are assured of quality partnerships and collaborations on the continent of Africa and beyond,” he said.
SGCI has been jointly funded since 2015 by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), South Africa’s Naticnal Research Foundation (NRF), the Swedish Intemational Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).
The initiative aims to strengthen the capacities of Science Granting Councils (SGCs) in sub-Saharan Atrica in order to support research and evidence-based policies that will contribute to ecoromic and social development.
Dr. Dominique Charon, Vice-President, Programmes and Partnership Branch at Canada’s International Development Research Centre, in his remarks said Nigeria’s participation expands the potential for the Initiative to achieve its goals of strengthening science systems and building alliances between science granting councils in sub-continent and internationally.”
Dr Aldo Stroebel, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships at the National Research Foundation-South Afria and SGCI Executive Committee Member welcomed TETFund into SGCI family and urged the organisation to expect tremendous benefits.
