The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has charged Nigerian universities and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to move research beyond academic journals and prototypes and turn innovative ideas into commercial products, companies and jobs.
Alausa gave the charge during a briefing with Vice-Chancellors, Directors of Academic Affairs, Directors of Postgraduate Studies and officials of the Federal Ministry of Education’s Directorate of University Education.
The minister said Nigeria could no longer afford to allow valuable research findings and innovations to remain on university shelves without being translated into solutions capable of driving economic growth and improving the lives of citizens.
According to him, universities should focus not only on publishing research but also on securing patents, developing market-ready products and attracting investors who can support the commercialisation of innovative ideas.
Alausa cited the innovation ecosystem around Cambridge, Massachusetts, as an example of how research institutions could successfully connect academic discoveries with industry, investment and entrepreneurship.
He said the proposed NASENI Campus would provide an important platform for achieving such collaboration by bringing together university researchers, laboratories, prototyping facilities, industries and investors.
The minister urged NASENI to deepen its collaboration with universities located close to its development centres, noting that universities have a large concentration of researchers, lecturers and students whose expertise could support Nigeria’s industrial development.
He said NASENI should serve as a bridge between universities and the private sector by assisting researchers with patent registration, connecting innovators with venture capital and facilitating the establishment of spin-off companies.
Alausa also urged NASENI to prioritise lithium processing and battery production as part of efforts to support Nigeria’s renewable energy ambitions and broader industrialisation agenda.
Earlier, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NASENI, Khalil Suleiman Halilu, said the agency was aligning with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to move innovations beyond prototypes and into full-scale production.
Halilu explained that the proposed NASENI Campus, located within a 100-hectare free trade zone, was designed as a hub where researchers, professors, prototyping facilities, industries and investors could work together.
He noted that several factories and industrial plants were already operating within the zone, creating opportunities for stronger collaboration between academia and industry.
Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof Hakeem Babatunde Fawehinmi, said the university’s existing partnership with NASENI demonstrated the potential of university-industry collaboration.
Fawehinmi disclosed that the partnership had produced an integrated agriculture incubation centre, greenhouses, automated poultry systems and tissue culture laboratories, which are being utilised for undergraduate and postgraduate research.
He said the university was also prepared to expand the collaboration into dairy science and renewable energy.
Similarly, the Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, Prof Haruna Musa, said the institution was seeking broader collaboration with NASENI in areas including nanotechnology, vaccinology, toxinology and mathematical modelling.
Musa disclosed that two research projects from Bayero University had reached the final stage of NASENI’s commercialisation grant.
The projects include the development of reusable sanitary pads and the industrial production of starch derivatives from sweet potatoes.
The minister’s position reinforces the Federal Government’s broader push to make Nigerian universities more responsive to national development by linking academic research with industry, entrepreneurship, job creation and economic diversification.
Alausa stressed that Nigeria’s human capital and intellectual resources must be converted into tangible economic and social benefits rather than remaining confined to academic publications.