By Adedapo Adesanya
In line with efforts to improve innovation and drive technological advancement in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has promised to provide endowment funds to more universities in the country.
The commission, according to TheCable, said there were further plans to expand the list of institutions who will benefit from the funds that will be released.
In the report, it was noted that the agency in 2019, handed N40 million research fund to Bayero University, Kano (BUK) and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) with each receiving N20 million.
The NCC charged students of both institutions who benefited from the funds to seize the opportunity and actualise their potentials as the commission would do more if the objectives of the funds were realised.
Providing information on the research grant to be released, the NCC said: “This is in tandem with its tradition of driving technology innovations through funding relevant researches in tertiary institutions.
“The fund will be utilized by universities to drive innovation, research, and development in the digital space. There is an ongoing commitment to expand the list of benefiting institutions.”
Also alluding to a recent lecture at the Federal University of Technology (FUT) in Minna, Niger State, Mr Isa Pantami, the minister for communications and digital economy, had emphasised the role of academia in prospering Nigeria’s economy.
Mr Pantami said that large amounts of data are being generated in the ICT-driven world, adding that managing such data holds great potential for Nigeria’s economic prosperity and security architecture.
“The academia and young innovative Nigerians such as those graduating have a key role to play in datafication to prosper the economy,” the minister explained.
“Datafication of objects or data transforms their purpose and turns the information into new forms of value. Data drives the digital economy and the digital economy drives the growth of the traditional economy,” he further said.
