TETFUND has funded the 2021 National Research Fund with N342,171,722.00 million for the 14 proposals submitted from the University of Ibadan (UI).
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose, SAN, disclosed this on Thursday, January 12, 2022, at the distribution of letters of award to the TETFUND National Research Fund Grantees.
In a statement by Mrs Adejoke Akinpelu, of the Directorate of Public Communication, UI, Professor Bamgbose, who commended TETFUND for filling the research gap in Nigeria, noted that worldwide, not all university lecturers are researchers, as many of them only focus on the teaching track while only a few combine teaching with the research track.
Describing it as an anomaly, as both should go hand-in-hand, Professor Bamgbose noted that a small proportion of academic staff engage in research due to a lack of access to local research funding.
She disclosed that UI management was doing all possible to make the University a research-intensive institution.
To this end, each Faculty and department is expected to have an active research committee to promote research culture among members of staff.
Professor Bamgbose appealed to senior researchers to ensure that they use their grants to support early career researchers so that there would be a generation of researchers to pass the baton to. This, she said, is the essence of mentoring.
She assured that under the current administration, UI would continue to maintain her rightful position in the comity of higher education institutions globally and sustain her leadership role in Nigeria and the West African sub region, while contributing to societal development.
She also stated that the administration would deploy more resources to research administration so that UI would continue to soar higher.