The Hon. Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Senator Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora, has promised to support the advocacy and struggle of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) for the National Research and Innovation Council (NRIC) Bill which has passed the Second Reading and Public Hearing stages at the Senate.

Receiving a delegation of the Union in his office during a courtesy visit, Senator Mamora also sought the cooperation of the Union in coming up with useful suggestions that can move the Research and Development Institutes (RDIs) sector forward.

Commending ASURI for its doggedness in the pursuit of institutionalized funding mechanism for research, the Hon. Minister said: Ordinarily, one cannot fault the demand of the union as far as the need to pass and actualize the NRIC Bill is concerned.
He added: It is a Bill that will transform the nation to a knowledge-based economy and one cannot talk of transforming the nation to a technology-driven economy without first thinking of paying serious attention to research.

Senator Mamora promised to use his good contacts in the National Assembly to fast-track the passage of the Bill even in spite of the little time in view of electioneering campaigns and spoke of the need to make contact with the relevant stakeholder MDAs, especially those agencies that are listed as prospective contributors to the Fund, to allay their fears.

On the demand of ASURI for due process in consonance with the provisions of Conditions of Service for Research and Development Agencies, Institutes and Colleges (COS 2019) in the appointment of Chief Executive Officer for National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), Ile Ife, and the immediate commencement of the process for National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI), Abuja, the Hon. Minister promised that the authorities concerned would key into established rules and regulations.

He said the Ministry would welcome the enlightened opinion of the union as leaders on what is needed to be done to fast-track the process of appointing Chief Executives for the agencies.
He requested that the Secretary General of ASURI, Professor Theophilus Ndubuaku, should look into what is happening at National Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research (NITR), Kaduna.

The Hon. Minister was joined in receiving the delegation by the Hon. Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, Chief Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh, who commended the union for coming up to raise issues that would move the sector forward and not just the usual welfare matters.

Speaking earlier, Professor Ndubuaku gave a narrative of the struggle of the union concerning the NRIC, which he said had the potential of transforming the face of RDIs the same way the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is affecting the universities positively.

He informed the Hon. Ministers that barely six months after the Muhammadu Buhari Administration came into office, Mr. President inaugurated the NRIC Governing Council, adding that the Council, with Mr. President as Chairman and the Ministers of the various ministries supervising Research Institutions, had met several times even without an Act of Establishment.

The ASURI Scribe noted that the NRIC Bill, which set out to give legal muscle to NRIC, was first passed by the National Assembly in 2018 but was denied Presidential Assent in view of some grey areas. He added that after the Bill was rectified by the Eighth Assembly in its final days in June 2019, it was transmitted again to the Villa but was denied Presidential Assent for the second time.

According to him, in renewing its advocacy for NRIC Bill, the Union formed a coalition with almost 30 Civil Society Organisations. Said he: Not relenting, ASURI has since sustained its advocacy for institutionalized funding of research. In collaboration with almost 30 Civil Society Organizations, the Union wrote to Mr. President, the Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), all members of the National Assembly, as well as all Ministers, Federal Permanent Secretaries and eminent Nigerians seeking support on the passage of the Bill.

As the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is charged with the mandate of spearheading Nigerias technological drive, the NRIC is being domiciled in the Ministry. It is therefore the primary responsibility of FMSTI to take more than a passing interest in the movement of the Bill.”

To support his claim, he said the Report of the 16-Man Technical Committee on Minimum Wage and Palliatives in 2016 recommended the Establishment of a Tax Fund for Adequate and Consistent Funding of Research Institutes, Colleges of Agriculture and Forestry and Allied Institutions.

Professor Ndubuaku added: The White Paper on the Report of the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies (Oronsaye Report) recommends the notion of adequate funding of Research and Development Institutes and Agencies and mentions severally, the proposed National Research Development Fund.

In addition, he informed the Hon. Ministers that the House of Representatives, realizing that all developed nations of the world are making progress through consistent attention to research and development, on 20th February 2018 passed a motion urging the Federal Government to dedicate at least 10 per cent of the total annual budget for research institutions in Nigeria.

He noted that no serious nation of the world funds research through budgetary allocations alone as Nigeria does, adding that NRIC is the way out of the doldrum.
According to him, this was why the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy which has been reviewed 14 times provides for an institutionalized funding mechanism, NRIC, which aims at funding research through taxation, like the largely successful TETFund.

The ASURI Scribe, who is widely known as the nations No. 1 advocate of institutionalized mechanism for research funding, appealed to the Hon. Minister, whom he described as a serial law maker, to use his wide contacts in the Senate and, indeed, the Federal House of Representatives to ensure expedited action on the passage of the NRIC Bill and to ensure that the Ministry supports ASURI in its pursuit of the actualization of NRIC.

[Senator Mamora and Professor Ndubuaku] On the Conditions of Service and the appointment of Chief Executives of RDIs, Professor Ndubuaku said after 15 years of negotiations, the Conditions of Service for Federal Research and Development Agencies, Institutions and Colleges (COS 2019) was approved on 7th November 2020, with retroactive effect from January 2019.

He recalled that through a letter dated 24th September 2021, with Ref. No. FMST/DPM/442/11T, the FMSTI forwarded COS 2019 to all Research and Development Agencies under its supervision and directed them to commence its implementation, adding that this gesture, which he said the Union still appreciates, contributed to making FMSTI the most labour-friendly Ministry in the country.

Speaking further, he said, among other things, COS 2019 spells out the procedure and process of appointing Chief Executives of Research Institutes. This was what made the recent appointment of CEOs for Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) and Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, so very seamless and applauded in the sector.

Quoting section 2.1.3.3(a) of COS 2019, which says Vacancies in the position of Executive Director/Director General/Provost shall be advertised. Candidates shall normally have qualifications, experience and research exposure relevant to the mandates of the Research Institution, he said this presupposes that even in the event of the absence of a substantive Chief Executive, only the most senior Technical Director in the Institution shall be qualified to step in to that position in an acting or overseeing capacity.

With all due respect, Professor Ndubuaku said, this may have been flouted in the cases of National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), Ile Ife, and National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI), Abuja, and this may not only draw the hands of the clock back as far as the mandates of these Research Institutes are concerned but may also lead to rupturing industrial harmony. Both the Overseeing Directors General of the two Agencies are non-Research Fellows.

He therefore urged the Hon. Ministers to insist on due process in full compliance with COS 2019 in the on-going appointment process at NACETEM and to give the marching order to the Governing Boards of NBTI and National Institute of Trypanosomiasis Research (NITR), Kaduna, to commence and conclude the process of appointing Chief Executives for the Institutes within two months as the Governing Board of PRODA was directed in January this year.

The ASURI delegation had in attendance the Vice President of the Union, Comrade Kassim Izebe, National Treasurer Comrade Jessica Effiong, and National PRO Comrade Mohammed Nma Baba, among others.