By Felix Khanoba
The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, has announced plans to widen participation in the 2026 National Research Fair and Exhibition, with the Fund seeking to convert research breakthroughs into market-ready products capable of boosting economic growth and employment.
Echono disclosed this on Friday in Abuja during the inauguration of the committee for the 2026 edition of the National Research Fair and Exhibition. He explained that the initiative is part of TETFund’s strategy to strengthen collaboration among researchers, industries, investors and other stakeholders while promoting the commercialisation of innovative ideas developed within and outside tertiary institutions.
The TETFund boss said the expanded committee became necessary following the achievements recorded during the maiden edition of the exhibition in November 2024, which featured numerous innovations from Nigerian tertiary institutions and encouraged stronger partnerships between researchers and industry.
“Considering the large number of exhibitors that participated in the fair and the number of spin-offs that were mainstreamed into the Nigerian market, we are hopeful that it was also a stimulus for job creation,” Echono said.
According to him, the newly inaugurated committee now includes representatives from the organised private sector, community inventors, relevant government ministries, innovation hubs, the Nigerian military, the Association of Nigerian Inventors and other key stakeholders to ensure broader participation and stronger collaboration.
“The main goal of the committee is to source, collate, and showcase all proven R&D outputs, technologies, and products… and to also create a conducive environment to encourage synergy, complementation, and partnership among all relevant stakeholders, including angel investors, venture capitalists, intellectual property experts, technology licensing professionals, entrepreneurs, all with a view to forging a viable environment for commercialization and then streaming such outputs into the Nigerian market and beyond,” he stated.
Echono added that the committee would develop a comprehensive database of research outputs from universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and research institutes nationwide while identifying technologies and innovations that would be exhibited later in the year.
He also revealed that the event would feature an international conference expected to attract experts and innovation stakeholders from across Africa and other parts of the world.
The Executive Secretary stressed that participation would not be limited to institutions benefiting from TETFund interventions, noting that innovators across the country would have the opportunity to showcase their inventions.
“Indeed, we’ll be advertising for entries, and any Nigerian at all that has developed a product, a service, or any kind of invention, we will expect them to apply,” he said.
He encouraged innovators who participated in the inaugural edition to return with improved products and fresh inventions, expressing confidence that the exhibition would evolve into Nigeria’s premier innovation platform.
“We hope that you do all in your power to ensure that this fair, as the name implies, becomes a national event that will be the coalition of all efforts with regards to innovation, technology, and research outputs in our country. It should be the number one… one-stop shop for all inventors, for all innovators and researchers to come and showcase the products of their research,” he added.
Highlighting the country’s innovation potential, Echono maintained that Nigeria possesses enormous intellectual capacity that should be harnessed to stimulate industrialisation, create employment and expand local manufacturing.
“Nigeria is richly endowed with intellectual assets. Our ability to harness these and to deploy them to activate the various sectors of our economy, promote manufacturing, local manufacturing, create jobs, create wealth, across the entire value chains, then we will be on the right path to achieving greatness,” Echono said.
In his response, Chairman of the committee, Engr. Umar Bindir, praised the Executive Secretary for assembling a broad-based committee comprising researchers, policymakers, inventors and industry leaders, describing the inclusive approach as innovative.
Bindir assured that members of the committee would work diligently to deliver a successful exhibition and achieve its objectives of strengthening the connection between research and industry.
“We subscribe to every word that you have used in inaugurating this committee, and we will do everything possible to make sure that we achieve this objective,” he pledged.
Earlier, TETFund’s Director of Research and Development and Centres of Excellence, Suleiman Zwingina, said the Fund had over the years sponsored several research initiatives that produced promising technologies and prototypes requiring commercialisation.
He explained that the National Research Fair and Exhibition was established to provide a meeting point where innovators could connect with industry partners and investors to transform research outputs into products and services capable of addressing Nigeria’s development needs.
