By Gloria Ikibah
The House of Representatives has moved to establish a National Research and Innovation Development Fund to address persistent funding gaps, strengthen research capacity and accelerate the commercialisation of locally developed innovations. 
The proposed legislation also seeks to establish a National Council on Research and Innovation to provide a legal and institutional framework for coordinating research activities, supporting scientific discoveries and transforming research findings into marketable products and services.
Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, disclosed this on Thursday at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Science and Technology on the National Research and Innovation Development Fund and National Council on Research and Innovation Bill, 2026 (HB. 2821), at the National Assembly, Abuja.
Represented by the Deputy House Leader, Rep. Ali Abdullahi Ibrahim, Speaker Abbas said Nigeria can no longer afford to depend excessively on imported technologies and solutions to challenges that its citizens had the intellectual capacity to address.
He noted that despite the country’s wealth of intellectual resources, talented researchers, innovative young people and skilled entrepreneurs, the absence of an effective system connecting research with funding and industry had continued to limit the economic benefits of these capabilities.
According to him, research activities in Nigeria often end with academic publications, while promising innovations struggle to attract financing and discoveries with commercial potential remain trapped in 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 stressed that the proposed legislation must provide practical solutions to the challenges confronting the country’s research and innovation ecosystem.
“The objective is not simply to defend the Bill as drafted, but to produce legislation that can fulfil its intended purpose,” he added.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Chairman House Committee on Science and Technology, Rep. Zakariya Tijjani Zannah, said Nigeria possessed the human resources and intellectual capacity to drive research and innovation but lacked a dependable legal and institutional framework to finance, coordinate and commercialise research findings.
He explained that the proposed legislation was designed to bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and their practical application in the marketplace.
Zannah urged stakeholders at the hearing to critically examine five major areas of the Bill, including governance and institutional structure, funding sources, grant administration and commercialisation, accountability mechanisms and potential implementation gaps.
On the proposed funding arrangements, the committee chairman drew attention to Section 19, which provides for a 20 per cent contribution from the Nigerian Content Development Fund, alongside government appropriations, grants and income generated through commercialisation.
He also highlighted Section 21, which proposes a 2.5 per cent cap on administrative expenditure, urging stakeholders to examine its legal basis, adequacy and long-term sustainability.
On grant administration, Zannah called for scrutiny of the competitive and peer-reviewed funding process outlined in Section 34, as well as the intellectual property provisions contained in Section 37.
He further urged participants to examine the proposed offences, penalties and legal proceedings to ensure that public resources were protected without creating unnecessary obstacles for genuine research activities.
The lawmaker called on stakeholders to make specific and evidence-based submissions, identify areas requiring improvements and propose alternative provisions where necessary.
“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 attracted representatives of government agencies, academic institutions, research organisations, the private sector and members of the scientific and innovation community, who deliberated on the proposed framework.
The proposed Fund is expected to provide a more structured financing mechanism for research and development, while the Council would coordinate activities and strengthen collaboration between researchers, industries and other stakeholders.
