Fidelia Soriwei, Abuja
The House of Representatives has begun legislative efforts to establish a National Research and Innovation Development Fund to address funding shortages, strengthen research capacity and promote the commercialisation of locally developed innovations.
The proposed legislation also provides for the establishment of a National Council on Research and Innovation to coordinate research activities, support scientific discoveries and facilitate the development of marketable products and services from research findings.
The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, disclosed this on Thursday at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Science and Technology at the National Assembly, Abuja.
Represented by the Deputy House Leader, Abubakar Halims, Abbas said Nigeria needed to reduce its dependence on imported technologies and solutions to challenges that local researchers and innovators had the capacity to address.
He observed that despite the country’s pool of researchers, innovative young people and skilled entrepreneurs, the absence of an effective framework connecting research funding with industry had limited the economic benefits of their work.
According to him, many research projects end with academic publications, while promising innovations struggle to secure funding and discoveries with commercial potential remain confined to laboratories.
“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.
Abbas described the public hearing as an opportunity to scrutinise the proposed National Research and Innovation Development Fund and National Council on Research and Innovation Bill, 2026, and ensure that its provisions address the country’s research and innovation challenges.
“The objective is not simply to defend the Bill as drafted, but to produce legislation that can fulfil its intended purpose,” he added.
Earlier, the Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, Zakariya Zannah, said Nigeria possessed the human resources and intellectual capacity to advance research and innovation but lacked a reliable legal and institutional framework for financing, coordinating and commercialising research findings.
He urged stakeholders to examine the bill’s proposed governance structure, funding sources, grant administration, commercialisation framework, accountability mechanisms and possible implementation gaps.
On financing, Zannah highlighted the proposed 20 per cent contribution from the Nigerian Content Development Fund under Section 19, alongside government appropriations, grants and revenue from commercialisation.
He also drew attention to the proposed limit of 2.5 per cent of the Fund’s resources for administrative expenditure under Section 21, urging stakeholders to assess its legal basis, adequacy and sustainability.
The committee chairman further called for scrutiny of the competitive, peer-reviewed grant allocation process under Section 34 and the intellectual property provisions in Section 37.
He said the provisions on offences, penalties and legal proceedings should also be examined to ensure public funds were protected without discouraging legitimate research activities.
Zannah urged participants to make evidence-based submissions and recommend specific amendments to strengthen the proposed legislation.
“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 brought together representatives of government, academia, research institutions, the private sector and the scientific and innovation community to examine the proposed framework.
