Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Sonny Echono
Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, has unveiled plans to broaden participation in the 2026 National Research Fair and Exhibition as part of efforts to accelerate the commercialisation of research findings and strengthen collaboration between academia, industry and investors.
Speaking on Friday in Abuja while inaugurating the 2026 National Research Fair/Exhibition Committee edition, Echono said the initiative was designed to transform research outputs into commercially viable products capable of creating jobs, stimulating local manufacturing and driving national development.
According to him, the decision to expand the committee followed the success of the maiden edition held in November 2024, which showcased innovations from tertiary institutions and facilitated stronger linkages between researchers and industry players.
“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.
He explained that the reconstituted committee now includes representatives of the organised private sector, community inventors, relevant ministries, innovation hubs, the Nigerian military, the Association of Nigerian Inventors and other stakeholders to deepen collaboration and widen participation.
“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 said the committee would also compile a comprehensive database of research outputs from universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and research institutes across the country while selecting technologies for exhibition later this year.
He disclosed that the exhibition would feature an international conference aimed at attracting experts from Africa and other parts of the world.
The TETFund boss stressed that the event would go beyond institutions benefiting from the Fund’s interventions.
“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 urged previous participants to return with improved innovations and newly developed products to demonstrate the impact of earlier edition.
Echono said the Fund was determined to make the exhibition Nigeria’s foremost 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 broader significance of the initiative, the TETFund boss said Nigeria possesses abundant intellectual resources that must be harnessed to solve national challenges and stimulate economic growth.
“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.
Responding, the chairman of the committee, Engr. Umar Bindir, commended the Executive Secretary for broadening the composition of the committee to include researchers, industry leaders, inventors and policymakers, describing the approach as an innovation in itself.
Bindir said the committee would work tirelessly to ensure the success of the exhibition and fulfil its mandate of connecting research with 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 & Development and Centres of Excellence, Suleiman Zwingina, said the Fund had supported numerous research projects and development programmes that had produced promising technologies and prototypes requiring commercialisation.
He noted that the National Research Fair and Exhibition was conceived to create a platform where research outputs could attract industry partners and be transformed into goods and services capable of addressing Nigeria’s developmental challenges.
