The Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Lafia (FULafia), Prof. Mohammed Isa Kida, has approved a ₦50 million research grant to strengthen research capacity and enhance the institution’s competitiveness in attracting national and international funding.
The fund, released to the University’s Research and Conference Development Committee, aimed to support high-impact research projects, promoting innovation and improving the quality of academic research across the institution.
The Chairman of the Committee, Prof. Adam Adebayo Sirajudeen, described the initiative as a significant step towards building a sustainable research culture capable of attracting larger external grants.
He said the University’s research development fund would enable researchers to initiate quality projects, develop robust methodologies and generate evidence-based solutions to societal challenges.
According to him, the initiative was expected to improve the University’s research output, strengthen its national and international reputation and enhance its position in global university rankings.
He said: “The deployment of the University’s research development fund to initiate quality projects and refine robust methodologies is laying a strong foundation for attracting substantial external funding.
This initiative represents a major milestone in promoting problem-solving research and cultivating a strong culture of grantsmanship.”
The Committee has, already, approved and funded the first batch of research proposals valued at ₦34,072,600.
The beneficiaries and their research projects are:
Prof. Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu – Development of Chronometer for Historical Printed Documents Using Controlled Artificial Ageing Protocols.
Prof. E.H. Kwon-Ndung – Assessment and Sustainable Improvement of the FULafia Botanical Garden.
Prof. Samaila Usman Dakyes – Exploration of Beetroot for the Development of Eco-friendly Natural Dyes for the Nigerian Fashion Industry.
Prof. Joseph Dlama Zira – Development of an Automated Radiology Management System with Integrated Dual-Engine Artificial Intelligence for Image Interpretation.
Dr Christopher Ifeanyi Eke – Explainable and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence for Breast Cancer Classification in Low-resource Healthcare Environments.
Dr Agushaka Jeffrey Ovre – Trust-aware Energy-efficient Dynamic Source Routing Protocol in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Using the Dwarf Mongoose Algorithm.
Dr Hauwa Ahmad Kana – Harnessing Renewable Waste for Wealth Creation and Sustainable Management of a Greener FULafia Environment.
Dr Muhammad Mukhtar Liman – Design and Implementation of an AI-powered Robotic Teaching Assistant Using Raspberry Pi for the Federal University of Lafia.
Adamu Yakubu – Development of a Self-directed Learning Module for Acquiring Basic Abdominal Ultrasound Skills among Radiography Students at the Federal University of Lafia.
Dr Bilikisu Adamu – Incorporating Cultural and Social Context into English Grammar Pedagogy in Selected Schools in North-Central Nigeria.
The University said the funded projects would contribute to knowledge generation in critical fields while providing research support for postgraduate students working under the supervision of the principal investigators.
According to the Committee’s chairman, the funding would provide essential resources for postgraduate researchers to complete high-quality studies, accelerate their academic progress and contribute to solving societal challenges.
Sirajudeen disclosed that a “second batch of research proposals is currently under review,” urging academic staff to take advantage of the funding opportunity.
He expressed his optimism that sustained investment in research would strengthen the University’s capacity for innovation, increase its success in securing competitive grants and reinforce its contribution to national development.
From Abubakar Ibrahim, FULafia
