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TETFund: Bogoro, a pacesetter in Research and Development

by with No Comment EducationICT

Prof. Suleiman Elias Bogoro, the Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Fund (TETFund), is a great thinker, scholar  and a 21st Century modern day leader with a clear vision and mission . In line with the cardinal objectives of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Bogoro continues to introduce policies  on research and development while he also ensures continued support to TETFund-sponsored scholars through to the end of their academic programmes.

To place Nigeria on the path of sustainable productivity and R & D innovation are his objectives. This, along with his culture of integrity, are what made President Muhammadu Buhari bring him back into office for the second time in 2019.  With this reinstatement, he has been firing on all cylinders to create a formidable path for the development of Nigeria, making TETfund a global brand, and putting emphasis  sustainable researches and innovation that embrace issues such as renewable energy, among others. In this way he is on the right path as you take TETfund to the next and desired level in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of altruistic transformation of our education system.

“I humbly pledge to keep the dream and hope of our dear President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) alive as a way of making TETFund the hallmark of a success story in our education sector”. That was Prof Bogoro, Executive Secretary, TETFund, as captured by Aljazerah newspaper in 2015. That was during his first tenure.

As a man of action whose intention is very clear about education,  Bogoro, in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s transparent and accountability policy, has been working hard in the area R& D as well as monitoring of TETfund-sponsored participants to local and foreign conferences to ensure that staff of beneficiary institutions attend the conference as approved for them by the Board of Trustees of TETfund.

To help Bogoro realize this ambition, the Federal Government reviewed its National Research Fund (NRF) domiciled with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to N7.5 billion for 2020 from an initial N5 billion in 2019. The agency also said the latest increase in the fund makes it the largest holder of research grants in Nigeria.

The National Research Fund was established pursuant to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act 2011 for the resuscitation of research activities in Nigerian institutions. Bogoro, said this at the 2020 TETFund Board of Trustees (BOT) Retreat in Abuja.

He disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari also approved the establishment of six medical simulation research and clinical training facilities in six colleges of medicine in each geopolitical zone within the year. According to him, the approval provided an opportunity for TETFund to provide 12 COVID-19 and related infectious disease molecular laboratories, two in each geopolitical zone, “making the fund the highest single provider of such test centres in Nigeria.”

“The BOT also approved that TETFund sponsors some COVID-19 research proposals to the tune of over N200 million, mainly from Universities and NAFDAC, this being one of the reasons TETFund has recently been made the secretariat for the Nigeria COVID-19 Research Consortium R&D,” he said. He also asserted that the board of trustees of TETFund also approved over N200 million, to sponsor some COVID-19 research proposals mainly from universities and NAFDAC.

“In addition, the BOT also endorsed and (this) was subsequently approved by the President, that six medical simulation research and clinical Training facilities in six colleges of medicine (one in each geopolitical zone) are to be established this year.”

The TETFund boss noted that approval had been granted for TETFund to commit funds “to reverse the embarrassing situation of hostel accommodation in tertiary institutions and make learning environment more attractive for local and foreign students.”

He added that 15 per cent of Nigerian students were living in hostel accommodation in their institutions, disclosing that the BoT has also directed the management of the agency to make recommendations towards migration of e-learning consistent with global best practice.

Speaking on the achievements of TETFund between 2011 and 2019, the BoT Chairman, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, said the fund constructed 80 auditoriums and lecture theatres in the 223 benefitting institutions.

Ibrahim-Imam said the fund also constructed 500 classrooms, 2,383 administrative and staff offices, 40 fully equipped libraries, 250 science laboratories, 38 ICT centres, 8 medical centres and sick bays, 100 vehicles and major infrastructures in the 12 newly established federal universities.

“To consolidate on the achievements, the TETFund has made provision in the 2020 budget for emergency special intervention to the University of Abuja and special high impact projects to six universities, one from each geopolitical zone,” he said

He said the agency will provide take-off grants to the six newly created federal polytechnics, one in each geo-political zone, and construct over 200,000 hostel accommodation in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to tackle the deficit of accommodation in the institutions.

“We will scale up the provision of fit-for-purpose infrastructure, result-oriented research, and cutting-edge technology to our tertiary institutions. And we will do all these with utmost integrity,” he said.

And as 2020 rolls gradually gently on,  Bogoro  is achieveing his purpose at TETfund. He continues to see the seeds of his labour blossom, with many flowers. In September this year, he set up R & D committee in order to be able to realize his ambition of making Nigeria an innovation hub..

Sometimes ago, he revealed that over 60% of lecturers in the Nigerian University system today are now Doctorate degree holders as against 40 per cent that was obtainable four years ago. Bogoro’s reforms also include the maximum sponsorship of three years for Doctorate degree programme to four years’ period.

“When we started the idea of supporting Masters’ Degree, but mainly PhD sponsorship both overseas and local at that time, only 40% of Nigerian lecturers had PhDs. After about three to four years of that intervention, the percentage went up to 60% and today we believe it is in the region of 70 to 80 per cent,which is a significant improvement,” Prof. Bogoro stated.

On impact assessment committee, Prof. Bogoro said his team has succeeded in putting up an independent committee. The leadership and composition are exclusively made up of independent persons. The document tells the story of TETfund from 1999 to 2019. Bogoro said: “In our own way of opening up ourselves for public scrutiny, where we have weakness, we will be happy to be reflective, go back and be guided by their suggestions.”

At the polytechnic level, Prof Bogoro’s intervention includes: fabrication intervention. Nigerian polytechnics get subvention annually for fabrication while Colleges of Education (COEs) are also not left out. Bogoro’s initiatives at the COEs also include the support of teaching practice as well as making available micro teaching laboratory equipment and at the universities, Entrepreneurship Fund is provided by TETFund and Bogoro is deliberately encouraging it knowing well that knowledge is power and very relevant.

“Let our graduates be job creators, not only employable which is a higher threshold than just being employable” Prof. Bogoro was quoted to have said in The Nation newspaper of December 7th, 2019. Manuscript development is also one of key interventions under the dynamic leadership of Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, which include; the support of textbook production by lecturers and supporting the transformation of PhD thesis to textbook and in line with this, the technical advisory committee inaugurated recently is doing well in this regard.

Bogoro said: “There are also journals, which is another area of intervention by TETFund. There is mechanical pathology, anthropology, criminology of artificial intelligence, artificial dissemination, which applies to every discipline including ICT, Architects and Society of Engineers and so forth.

If Bogoro could achieve these feats within one year of his reinstatement  then one could say, without any fear of contradiction that the TETfund supremo has been a change agent, working to  bring a new lease of life to higher education system in Nigeria in no distant time. But what have been the magic behind  Bogoro’s success?

He revealed that the underline factor for his achievements is focus coupled with team work as captured by Henry Ford’s quote who said: ‘Working Together is Success.  “Focus is secret of my numerous achievements recorded since assumption of office and I have justified the confidence reposed in me as the Executive Secretary TETfund by turning around the stories of Nigerian’s public tertiary institutions within the shortest time that I took over the mantle of leadership of TETfund.”

Obviously, one of the pillars of support working with the executive secretary is Dr Dr Salihu  Girei Bakari.

TETFund, has tasked researchers in the academic community to end the myriad of problems confronting Nigeria through research.This came as it explained that its recent exposure of some illegalities being perpetuated by some scholars over money for foreign studies, was aimed at stopping the unwholesome trends.

TETFund’s Director of Research and Development, Dr Salihu  Girei Bakari, said these in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate, UAE, during the just concluded capacity building workshop it organised for researchers drawn from selected universities in Nigeria.

Bakari said challenge thrown at academic researchers came against the backdrop of too much concentration on research publications, rather than addressing the immediate needs of development.he added that the TETFund’s new focus in providing grants for research and development activities in tertiary institutions was borne out of a need to create leverages where contemporary challenges in Nigeria would be resolved.

According to him, the concern raised by the Fund concerning misapplication of scholarly funds by beneficiaries was aimed changing the trend.

“I won’t call it diversion, there is nothing like diversion anywhere because TETFund by law is supposed to disburse and administer funds, so there are always guidelines.

Speaking on the report quoting the organisation of accusing scholars of diverting money meant for foreign studies into buying luxuries including building houses, he said: ”So if there are guidelines for application of monies, anytime we find misapplication or infractions, TETFund will pulse further disbursement and ask the recipient to account for the monies given before, TETFund has done much by producing thousands of P.hd holders including sponsoring so many Industrial Based Researches.

Backing the importance of the workshop, Bakari, said academics were meant to use their knowledge in bridging gaps hindering developmental initiatives as it concerns all strata of the Nigerian society.

He said there are many misconceptions regarding the functions of TETFund, as an intervention agency.

“This workshop is meant to set the tone for paradigm shift, TETFund is now moving towards content based intervention in the area of research and development, for too long we have been emphasizing teaching at the expense of research.

” For long universities have been carrying out research for publication and not for development and now government is investing monies in applied research because research should be problem solving, in other words lecturers should be seen at the forefront in diversifying the economy, making sure that the economy is knowledge based, solving our problems through research not with oil alone, “he stated.

Crucially his task as the director of R & D has greatly helped the performance of  TETfund and boosted the image of the prganization under the watch of Professor Bogoro. Along with other staff, he has been of great value to Bogoro’s work.

Professor Bogoro commissioned the ICT centre on 24th April 2019 at Gombe State University funded with (2013 Special Intervention Fund) and the commissioning of TETfund–funded 2019 Special Intervention High Impact Projects at the University of Port-Harcourt on 30th March 2019 as well as commissioning of University Of Lagos Academic Publishing Centre among others on 30 March, 2019.

There was also the commissioning of Academic Publishing Centre and other completed projects at University of Calabar on 27th and 28th February 2019. Federal University at Gusau Zamfara State is not left out as gigantic and legacy projects were commissioned by Prof. Bogoro and his team from the 23rdto 25th January 2020. In the same vein, on 1st November 2019, commissioning of special intervention and 2013 ICT centre projects were successfully carried out at the University of Jos.  Bogoro and his team also commissioned the special annual intervention projects from 6th to 8th December, 2019.

There was also the iconic commissioning of TETfund projects on 12th December 2019 (TETfund 2014 normal intervention projects) at the Federal University Lokoja. Interestingly, landmark and legendary projects were also commissioned by Bogoro and his team from 26th to 30th November, 2019 at the University of Benin, Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma, Edo State, Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State University Abraka, Imo State University, Owerri, Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwu and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

In line with global standard and practice, TETfund is now a global brand, and has embraced renewable energy to light up the higher institutions as seen in Bayero University Kano (BUK).  According to Bogoro, “Renewable energy is the major quest for sustainable development in western world today and with this centre now in operation at Bayero University (BUK) Kano, it is expected that Nigeria would seek goal in earnest”.

To him, poor research is responsible for low ranking of Nigerian universities. And he has the task of rewriting the history ’ “All over the world, universities and other higher institutions are positioned to be the bridge between a productive society, knowledge and growth. It is unfortunate that research which remains critical in this respect had been at lower ebb.’

As the tireless professor drives TETFund to the Next Level, we pray that he will continue to move from strength to strength and keep on treading on the right path of President Buhari’s

umaru

Umaru Garba Danbatta and the task of making Nigerians leverage on digital Economy to spur Economic Growth

by with No Comment ICT

Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta-  the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) held an interactive session with the media, the first since his re-appointment by President Muhamadu Buhari in August.

Prof. Danbatta is concerned with how the Commission can best empower Nigerian people and businesses to leverage digital technology to changes lives, generate wealth, and contribute to the growth of the country’s  GDP.

It was on the strength of this commitment and sterling performance in office in the last five years that President Muhammadu Buhari, in August, had considered him for re-appointment for another term of five years in office.

During the interactive session which he held with senior media chiefs from the mainstream and online media community,  he gave impressive accounts of his stewardship as the Chief Telecoms Regulator in the last five years, while setting priorities for the next five years, promising to cut the cost of data by 60 percent.

The event, held at the NCC’s Communications and Digital Economy Complex, Miatama Abuja, was attended by the top-notch of the fourth estate of the realm both physically and virtually, as well as the senior management of the Commission, including the Executive Commissioner Stakeholder Management, Adeleke Adewolu.

Addressing the forum, Danbatta listed the major policy initiatives which had produced record broadband penetration and enhanced the growth in the telecoms sector, especially in the contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He revealed that on the assumption of office five years ago, the Commission discovered 217 access gaps, a result that had affected 40 million Nigerians – having no access to telecom services. Then he tapped the drum:

“But today, we have reduced the access gap clusters to 114 with 15 million of the 40 million digitally excluded Nigerians now having access to telecoms services. We are committed to addressing the remaining access gap clusters, which are areas outside the frontier of economic viability to ensure the remaining 25 million Nigerians have access.”.

Equally, he talked about capital importation, saying the EVC said in 2015, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the telecom sector stood at $1 billion but declined to $212 million by 2018. He, however, noted that through regulatory efforts, the FDI in the sector had picked up again reaching $930 million according to recent figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He also listed the various consumer-centric initiatives his leadership has put in place to strengthen consumer protection and empowerment in the last five years. These include the declaration of 2017 as the Year of the Consumer, the introduction of the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 Short Code, the introduction of the NCC toll-free Number 622; the stringent provisions of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) Registration Guidelines, issuance of direction on forceful subscription and data roll-over, among others.

Such initiatives included the constitution of a multi-sectoral committee on e-fraud, revision of the consumer complaints, and service level agreements (CC/SLA) for prompt resolution of consumer complaints by the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

Prof. Danbatta receiving an Award

According to him, the careful implementation of the Commission’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP) in the last five years with a focus on the 8-Point Agenda, had raised the country’s broadband penetration to 42.02 per cent by July, 2020 from 6 per cent in 2015. He pointed out that the telecoms sector’s contribution to the GDP increased from 8.50 per cent in 2015 to 14.30 per cent in the second quarter of 2020. This means that the Q2 2020 contribution translates to N2.272 trillion.

Prof. Danbatta also listed the Commission’s regulatory priority areas for the next five years to include:

  • facilitating attainment of 70 percent broadband penetration by 2025;
  • consumer protection and empowerment;
  • consolidation of spectrum trading to ensure maximum and efficient usage of available frequencies.
  • SIM registration audit to provide security and curtail incidences of banditry, kidnapping, and armed robbery;
  • creation of Emergency Communications Centres (ECCs) in more states of the federation;
  • execution of the counterpart funding agreements with the licensed Infrastructure companies (InfraCos) to facilitate the digital transformation of the economy.

He noted that when he came on board five years ago, there were 47,000 kilometers of fibre optic cables laid across the country. However, five years after, as a result of regulatory focus, there are now 54,725 kilometers of fibre cables laid across the country through the efforts of some private companies in the sector.

“In line with the Federal Government’s target, an additional 120,000 kilometers of fibre are being planned over the next four years. In this regard, the NCC is working on last-mile connectivity to different parts of the country through leveraging the 40 terabyte capacity of five submarine cables on the coastal shores of Nigeria,” he said.

He reiterated NCC’s commitment towards delivering on its mandate of ensuring the quality of service to the consumers, driving investment, and boosting healthy competition in the industry as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003. And he praised the role of the media in the reportage of the telecom sector over the years and urged the practitioners to continue to be objective and constructive in their coverage of the activities of the Commission and that of its licensees.

With the sterling performance by Professor Dambatta in NCC, one needs no wonder much as to why the organization regularly attracts accolades and awards. Some of these awards came in recently in recognition of the critical role the Commission has been playing in keeping Nigerians and businesses connected since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Two of the awards, ‘Human Rights Telecoms Defender’ for the EVC and ‘Human Rights Guard’ for the Commission, as a corporate entity, were presented by Wheel of Hope Human Rights Foundation (WHHRF), a frontline Nigerian Non-Governmental Organisation. The third award, ‘Icon of a Greater Nigeria’ was presented to the EVC by the Youth Coalition Against Corruption (YOCAC), a coalition of Nigerian youths from all walks of life. Coincidentally, WHHRF and YOCAC adduced similar reasons for finding the EVC and Commission deserving of the recognitions.

Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Dr. Ikeckukwu Adinde, who received the awards on behalf of the EVC, appreciated the organizations for their gestures, noting that the three awards will serve as an encouragement to the Commission to continue to strengthen effective, fair, and transparent regulation of the telecommunications industry.

“On behalf of the EVC and Chief Executive of NCC, we thank you for these recognitions. These latest awards will add to the long list of laurels in the NCC’s kitty. There are many initiatives by the Commission, to ensure increased connectivity, improved quality of service and consumer rights protection,” Adinde said while restating the NCC’s commitment to consumer-centric initiatives that promote digital inclusion and advance the digital economy vision of the government.

Jide Abdulazeez, Chairman, WHHRF, said the presentation of the two awards by the Foundation was in recognition of “the leading role the Commission has been playing in sustaining access to telecoms services throughout the period of the lockdown, following the outbreak of COVID-19  pandemic.”

He added that the role of NCC in making the 112 Emergency Number available to Nigerians to report COVID-19-related cases and other emergencies; as well as its efforts in consistently protecting the rights and privileges of telecoms consumers, through effective resolutions of service-related complains, are part of the reasons for finding the Commission worthy of the awards.

In his own part the National Coordinator, YOCAC, Dahiru Umaru, said, “the Icon of Greater Nigeria Award conferred on the EVC is in recognition of his leadership qualities and achievements which have engendered quality regulatory supervision of the telecoms industry by ensuring that telecom consumers are not unduly shortchanged, especially during the critical stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

According to him, the Commission has been contributing immensely to the growth of the Nigerian economy by ensuring robust telecom infrastructure, making it possible for Nigerians to leverage social media and other digital platforms to ventilate their views against corrupt practices in order to ensure good governance in the country.

While NCC has done well in the area of using digital platforms to fight corrupt practices so as to drive good governance in Nigeria, some experts still contend that needs to enthrone a culture Nigerians youth can leverage on online platforms to generate revenues and participate in the gig economy.

They add that the extent to which the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices by Nigerians can improve on the quality of their lives will remain low until the youth and many Nigerian small businesses become more productive online.

They made the comment when they were asked questions on the report of a recent study, which ranks Nigeria as fifth in Africa, and 81 out of 85 nations, in terms of improved digital quality of life. a product of Privacy Company, Surfshark,

The study titled Digital Quality of Life (DQL) 2020 was conducted by a  Privacy Company, Surfshark. It based its ranking on five pillars– Internet affordability, Internet quality, electronic infrastructure, electronic government, and electronic security, where it ranked Nigeria 85th, 81st, 70th, 53rd, and 53rd.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) informed that there are 146 million Internet users and 80 million broadband subscribers in the country. Statistics from Internet World Stat puts the Internet growth rate in the last 20 years in Nigeria at 62.9 per cent of an estimated population of 206 million.

President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, observed that “digital  quality life goes beyond just the rising numbers, but we must be productive online.”According to him, there are many things that Nigeria is not doing right.

“Nigeria still counts subscriptions as if they are human beings. A lot of the subscriptions are duplicated SIM cards. There are multiple SIM cards, some are connected to machines, so it doesn’t give a true picture of those who are individual owners of devices with SIM cards who are doing productive stuff.

“The report is saying that having a mobile device doesn’t mean you’re digital native. Consuming YouTube, watching football, watching Big Brother are not productive activities, they are just entertainment and leisure coming from the fibre that is connected to the shows that is bringing traffic into the country. So we are just mere consumers, we have to stop being consumers, but producers.”

The ATCON president noted that digital economy is about creating an economy where you produce in the big markets, and other markets buy from you and revenues are earned.

Some telecoms expert equally decried the low productivity through the vast mobile connections in the country, saying Nigeria must reject the ‘consuming nation’ status placed on the country, which has resulted in it becoming a dumping ground for all sorts of good and services.

Kayode Aluko “It is disappointing and painful that despite the subscription figures, our impact is still very low in terms of productivity on the Internet. There is serious work before the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to make changes. We can’t just continue on a downward trend as a nation,” he stated.

While telecom analysts fume over the low productivity of the digital economy in Nigeria, many Nigerians are praising Professor Danbatta for his giant strides at NCC. And the COVID-19 lockdown period really provided the litmus test for the NCC to show that it is up to its mandate of pushing the Nigerian Digital economy on the watch of Danbatta.

An insight gained from the World Bank Nigeria Digital Economy Diagnostic Report reveals that the digital economy can change the way economies of scale are achieved. In 2016, the global digital economy was worth some $11.5 trillion, equivalent to 15.5 percent of the world’s overall GDP. It is expected to reach 25 percent in less than a decade, quickly outpacing the growth of the overall economy. It can also strengthen people’s trust in firms or governments by enabling some decentralized forms of trust (such as with a blockchain) where centralized authorities are not trusted.

It may allow products and services to be customized and targeted—enabling better inclusion but also easier ways to exclude some too. However, countries like Nigeria were reportedly capturing only a fraction of this growth and need to strategically invest in the foundational elements of their digital economy to keep pace. Professor Danbatta has been working on all these with some notable results.

These results became evident during the economic lockdown and cessation of movements caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, with online service delivery restricted, the digital economy provided a soft landing for both buyer and sellers in a competitive market. And again, it is certain to address the issue of irregular information, solving some principal-agent problems where buyers and sellers are separated by intermediaries or even multiple levels of intermediaries.

Ernst & Young Nigeria, in 2018 defined Digital Economy as the part of the economic output derived solely or primarily from digital technologies with a business model based on digital goods and services. The digital economy is made up of various components, including a platform economy, a gig economy, an industry 4.0, a digital economy, data analytics, robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, 3-D printing, and e-commerce among others.

Nigerians can benefit and make money from all these, most notably youth can take advantage of gig economy. And what is it/? The “Gig Economy” is a new work paradigm that has been gaining in popularity in recent years, largely as more people today rely on a secondary income or struggle to find full-time, stable employment. It describes the proliferation of temporary and flexible jobs that freelancers can pick up for quick pay. It’s a fragmented employment model where a worker has multiple shifts to work in a day or a handful of projects to make an income, being antithetical to the traditional nine-to-five shift that salaried employees would enjoy at a company they may expect to work at for years.

The success of companies like Uber, Lyft, Foodora, and many other players in the flexible workspace make these roles more accessible and popular to both casual freelancers and full-time gig economy participants. Other examples of gig work include freelance writing, doing small tasks for quick cash on a platform like TaskRabbit, and even renting out your property on Airbnb is included.

To make Nigerians benefit immensely from this digital economy, Prof Danbatta is pushing on all fronts to do things that allow Nigerians unlock a world of digital possibilities to improve their economic, psychological, social, and physical well-being, empowering youth to take charge of their own lives. In this way, they are better able to use creativity to build wealth and contribute to the development of individuals, families, communities and the country.

These and other measures are what Prof Danbatta is doing at NCC to make information and communication facilities and services easily affordable and accessible to the common man in Nigeria. And it is only through effective implementation of all these projects that Nigeria can lead or at least secure a seat among the comity of nations in the digitalized global economy. No wonder honour and awards keep flowing to the NCC.