FG WARNS: INVESTMENTS IN UNIVERSITIES AND POLYTECHNICS YIELD LOWER-THAN-EXPECTED ECONOMIC RETURNS
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BY: TAJUDEEN AMINAT
The Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Uche Nnaji, stated on Thursday that despite significant investments in research and development, the economic returns from Nigerian universities, polytechnics, and other research institutes remain below expectations.
Nnaji made this remark in Abuja during a strategic meeting with commissioners of science, technology, and innovation from across the country, focused on the commercialization of scientific research outcomes.
The minister emphasized that the meeting was timely, coming at a crucial moment in Nigeria’s push toward effective commercialization of research outputs.
“This meeting is both timely and necessary. Nigeria has made substantial investments in research and development across our universities, polytechnics, and research institutes, yet the economic returns from these investments continue to fall short of expectations,” he said.
“Too many valuable research findings remain confined to laboratory shelves, technical reports, or academic journals, without being transformed into products, services, or enterprises that can improve lives.
“Ladies and gentlemen, around the world, economic strength is increasingly measured not just by natural resources, but by the capacity to turn knowledge into value. Nations that excel in research commercialization have developed robust industrial sectors, competitive technology industries, and resilient economies.
“Nigerian scientists and innovators are generating solutions in fields such as agriculture, renewable energy, biotechnology, digital technology, health sciences, manufacturing, and climate resilience. Yet, many of these research outputs remain uncommercialized, contributing to unemployment, weak industrial growth, and limited impact on the nation’s GDP,” he said.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr. Philip Ebiogeh, emphasized that Nigeria can no longer afford to let research findings sit idle on shelves.
“Nigeria can no longer afford to be a country where research findings sit idle on shelves. We must intentionally develop systems that support patenting, prototyping, incubation, venture financing, regulatory facilitation, and market access.
“Commercialization must become a core part of our research culture. Distinguished guests, the ministry is committed to providing policy leadership, enabling frameworks, and institutional support to advance the Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration.
“However, real success depends on strong ownership at the state level. We must collaborate to establish innovation clusters, strengthen technology incubation centres, and incentivize private sector involvement in research commercialization.
“At this point, let me assure you that the Honourable Minister is ready to lead this process. I encourage everyone to engage in open, solution-oriented discussions throughout this meeting. Let us go beyond identifying challenges and focus on practical, actionable steps with measurable results,” he stated.
The Federal Government is actively promoting the commercialization of research outputs to drive innovation and economic growth.
As part of this effort, the government has launched the National Research to Commercialisation Policy, allocating N2 billion to the Research, Innovation, and Commercialisation Committee and N3 billion for programme operations in 2026.
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