Reps move to establish national research, innovation fund
By Gift ChapiOdekina, Abuja
The House of Representatives has moved to establish a National Research and Innovation Development Fund to address funding gaps, strengthen Nigeria’s research capacity and promote the commercialisation of locally developed innovations.
The proposed legislation also seeks to establish a National Council on Research and Innovation to provide a legal and institutional framework for coordinating research activities, supporting scientific discoveries and transforming research outcomes into marketable products and services.
Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, disclosed this on Thursday at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Science and Technology on the National Research and Innovation Development Fund and National Council on Research and Innovation Bill, 2026 (HB. 2821), at the National Assembly, Abuja.
Represented by the Deputy House Leader, Abubakar Halims, Abbas said Nigeria could no longer afford to depend excessively on imported technologies and solutions to challenges its citizens had the intellectual capacity to address.
He noted that despite the country’s considerable intellectual resources, talented researchers, innovative young people and skilled entrepreneurs, the absence of an effective system linking research to funding and industry had continued to limit the economic benefits of these capabilities.
According to him, research activities in Nigeria often end with academic publications, while promising innovations struggle to attract financing and discoveries with commercial potential fail to progress beyond the laboratory.
“The challenge, therefore, is not simply to produce more research, but to build an ecosystem that connects research to funding, innovation to investment, and discoveries to industry,” the Speaker said.
He added that the objective of the public hearing was not merely to defend the Bill in its current form but to ensure that the proposed legislation could effectively achieve its intended purpose.
Earlier, Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, Zakariya Tijjani Zannah, said Nigeria possessed the human resources and intellectual capacity to drive research and innovation but lacked a dependable legal and institutional framework to finance, coordinate and commercialise research findings.
He explained that the proposed legislation was designed to bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and their practical application in the marketplace.
Zannah urged stakeholders to critically examine five major areas of the Bill, including governance and institutional structure, funding sources, grant administration and commercialisation, accountability, and potential implementation gaps.
On funding, he drew attention to the proposed 20 per cent contribution from the Nigerian Content Development Fund under Section 19 of the Bill, alongside government appropriations, grants and income generated from commercialisation.
He also highlighted the proposed 2.5 per cent cap on administrative expenditure under Section 21, urging stakeholders to assess its legal basis, adequacy and sustainability.
On grant administration, the committee chairman called for scrutiny of the competitive and peer-reviewed funding process outlined in Section 34, as well as the intellectual property provisions contained in Section 37.
He further urged participants to examine the provisions on offences, penalties and legal proceedings to ensure adequate protection of public resources without discouraging genuine research activities.
The lawmaker called on stakeholders to make specific, evidence-based submissions, identify areas requiring legislative adjustments and propose alternative provisions where necessary.
“Let us give Nigeria a Fund and a Council that are well governed, sustainably financed and focused on turning research into jobs, products and prosperity,” he said.
The public hearing attracted representatives of government, academia, research institutions, the private sector and the scientific and innovation community to deliberate on the proposed legislation.
The post Reps move to establish national research, innovation fund appeared first on Vanguard News.