Five Nigerian tertiary institutions got N54.7 million research grant from the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC, NewsSpecng learnt.
The kind gesture according to NCC is reward for emerging winners in the Telecommunications-based Research Innovations for Nigerian yertiary institutions.
According to a statement published on the Commission’s website, the grants are for five projects expected to be completed within two years.
The five schools chosen were adjudged to have the best response to the Request For Proposals published in national dailies and on the Commission’s website and Social Media handles on Thursday July 3, 2020.”
The list of beneficiaries and project focus include; Enugu State University of Science & Technology, Enugu, ₦10,147,000, Innovative Clean Energy Technology; Development of all-weather solar system for energy optimization in a mobile communication based station.
Taraba State University, Jalingo, ₦9,911,811.39, 5G Deployment in Nigeria; Design and Fabrication of Metamaterial Inspired UWB/ MIMO Antenna for 5G sub 6GHz Applications.
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, ₦11,686.500.00, IOT Low Power Wide Area Network; Weather WAN: A Wide Area Network of Low-Cost IoT – Compliant Weather Stations.
Gombe State University, Gombe, ₦11,668,758, Monitoring and Localization of Drones; Intelligent and Autonomous Multi-UAVs (Multiple Drones) Swarm Monitoring for Effective Surveillance and Situation Awareness in the Nigerian Telecommunication Industry.
Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna, ₦11,291,562, Advanced method of Quality of Service (QoS) Quality of Experienced Management and Test Mechanism; Development of Intelligent Cognitive Smart Engine for Quality of Service Management in 5G Network.
The statement also revealed that there are thirty-four (34) on-going researches in various research institutions (Universities, Polytechnics, other institutions) across the country.
It therefore posited that the Commission’s promotion of research in the tertiary institutions as well as other research centres, demonstrates its commitment towards addressing challenges in the telecoms industry through indigenous solutions.
“The Commission appreciates all the tertiary institutions that have continued to respond to our Request For Proposal (RFP) on the Telecommunications-based Research Innovations from Academics in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions Programme. We hope that you would keep submitting proposals in future RFPs.
“In addition, we appreciate the Evaluation Committee of strategic Stakeholders, National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Teaching Academics, Industry (represented by Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria – ATCON), National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) as well as staff of the Commission, chaired by Prof. M. B. Muazu (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria) and co-chair, Prof. Usman Aliyu El-Nafaty (Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi).
“We look forward to the successful completion of these researches and the eventual commercialisation of the prototypes, for the overall sustainability of telecommunications industry,” the statement,” the statement further added.