The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has awarded research grants to the five tertiary institutions that were adjudged to have best proposals from amongst those who responded to its Request For Proposals published on Thursday, July 3, 2020.
The year 2020 Research Grants were awarded under NCC’s Telecommunications-based Research Innovations from Academics in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions programme, and were to the tune of ₦54,705,632.14 only.
The award winning institutions, their research topics and amounts are: Enugu State University of Science & Technology, Enugu (Development of all-weather solar system for energy optimization in a mobile communication based station) – ₦10,147,000.00.
Taraba State University, Jalingo (Design and Fabrication of Metamaterial Inspired UWB/ MIMO Antenna for 5G sub 6GHz Applications) – ₦9,911,811.39.
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (Weather WAN: A Wide Area Network of Low-Cost IoT – Compliant Weather Stations) – ₦11,686.500.00.
Gombe State University, Gombe (Intelligent and Autonomous Multi-UAVs (Multiple Drones) Swarm Monitoring for Effective Surveillance and Situation Awareness in the Nigerian Telecommunication Industry) – ₦11,668,758.75.
Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna (Development of Intelligent Cognitive Smart Engine for Quality of Service Management in 5G Network) – ₦11,291,562.00.
According to the NCC, The five projects are expected to be completed within two years.
In an announcement posted on its website, the Commission expressed appreciation to “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.
“Currently, there are thirty-four (34) on-going researches in various research institutions (Universities, Polytechnics, other institutions) across the country.
“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.”
