The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, has announced the commencement of the payment of about N7.5billion research funds to private and public universities in Nigeria and other research institutions.

Bogoro disclosed this during the opening of a four-day meeting on the agency’s Research and Development Standing Committee (RDSC). He said the payment comes two years after the Board of Trustees of the agency granted approval for private institutions to benefit from the funds.

According to TETFUND, the research funds would be invested in areas such as phytomedicine drugs, prophylactics, and vaccines. He also revealed that the agency intends to fund defence and security research committee, to enable them to respond to the insecurity challenges and insurgency in the country.