‘Commercialization of research findings key for independence of institutes’

The Chairman of the Governing Council, Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, Olorogun John Onojeharho, has identified patenting of research findings as one of the ways of making institutes less dependent on government.

Onojeharho made this known during a visit to the NITT by members of the council, saying that NITT can stand on its own and even generate revenue for the federal government if the “hidden treasure” of the institute is open to the world.

He said: “As a council, one of our major foci is to achieve the required visibility for NITT. We are discussing how to be commercial-focused. One of the ways we are going to do that is to see which of the departments can be commercialized. We don’t need to depend solely on government; we are going to develop what I term new ways of working, which includes commercialization of our research findings.

“The Council has been interfacing with sister organizations like NIMATA, MAN in Oron, Railway and other organizations that need the resources of NITT.

“The recent visit of the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the proposed visit of the Kaduna state governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i are part of the efforts to actualize this dream.”

Onojeharho said the efforts of making NITT a degree awarding institute have started yielding result, as the National Board for Technical Education had given tentative approval to the institute to run National Diploma (ND) programmes.

The Acting Director General of the Institute, Dr. Bayero Salih Farah, said despite the challenges, he remains focused on achieving the goal of making NITT a leading transport and logistics institute, not only in Nigeria, but also in West Africa.