By Our Correspondent

The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has called on Nigerian universities and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, to bridge the divide between scholarship and the market by transforming campus inventions into enterprises, employment and real-world solutions that can power Nigeria’s economic renewal.

The Minister made the declaration during a briefing for Vice-Chancellors, Directors of Academic Affairs, Directors of Postgraduate Studies and officials of the Federal Ministry of Education’s Directorate of University Education. The meeting focused on a proposed partnership model through the NASENI Campus. He said the model is designed to link researchers with state-of-the-art laboratories, prototyping hubs, industry players and funding sources, creating a clear route for ideas to travel from the lab bench to commercial use.

According to Dr Alausa, Nigeria must intentionally shift from pure research to commercial rollout if it wants to get full value from its people. He warned that research should not stop at journal articles or demonstration models. Citing the innovation cluster around Cambridge, Massachusetts as a reference, Dr. Alausa said Nigerian academics should be able to secure patents for their work, scale those inventions into sellable goods, and team up with investors to launch sustainable firms. That, he noted, is how intellectual capacity becomes tangible national progress.

To deliver this, he urged NASENI to deepen ties with universities located near its development centres. Universities, he said, hold a large reservoir of researchers, lecturers and students whose skills can strengthen the agency’s mandate. NASENI, he added, can fill the critical gap between academic work and business success by assisting with patent applications, linking innovators to venture capital, and helping to set up spin-off companies. He also tasked the agency to look into lithium refining and battery production as Nigeria ramps up renewable energy and industrial growth.

Reiterating government backing, Dr. Alausa said the Ministry will keep working with NASENI, universities and other partners to build a working pipeline from research and innovation through to investment, manufacturing and job creation.

Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, he stressed, the goal is not just to generate more research papers, but to ensure Nigeria’s knowledge, skills and inventions become products, companies, jobs and lasting prosperity for citizens.

Earlier, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of NASENI, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, outlined the agency’s push to close the gap between research and manufacturing, in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to go beyond prototypes and reach full production. He said the planned NASENI Campus will sit inside a 100-hectare free trade zone and function as a fully integrated ecosystem where scholars, professors, prototyping units, industries and commercial pathways operate side by side. Several factories and industrial plants are already set up within the zone.

Giving a practical example, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Professor Hakeem Babatunde Fawehinmi, said the school’s current collaboration with NASENI shows what the model can achieve. The partnership has delivered an integrated agricultural incubation centre, greenhouse units, automated poultry systems and tissue culture laboratories that serve both undergraduate and postgraduate research. He added that the university is prepared to expand the work into dairy science and renewable energy.

Also highlighting market-ready research, the Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, Professor Haruna Musa, said BUK is pursuing wider cooperation with NASENI in nanotechnology, vaccinology, toxinology and mathematical modelling. He revealed that two BUK projects have reached the final phase of NASENI’s research commercialisation grant scheme. The projects are a reusable sanitary pad and the industrial production of starch derivatives from sweet potatoes.

By Correspondent
The African Minerals Strategy Group, (AMSG), has disclosed that the collapse of an artisanal gold mine in Zamboye, Central African Republic, which reportedly killed more than 100 miners, as a “profound tragedy” that should trouble the conscience of the continent.
In a press statement signed by its Chairman, Dr. Dele Alake, the group said the victims were not just statistics but “brothers, fathers, uncles, sons and indeed, bread-winners.”
“On behalf of the African Minerals Strategy Group, I extend my deepest condolences to the Government and people of the Central African Republic, (CAR) and most especially to the families who have lost loved ones in this terrible disaster. We stand in solidarity with them at this moment of grief,” Alake stated.

He, however, said condolences alone were not enough, stressing that the disaster must force African countries to confront the dangers of illegal and unregulated mining.
According to him, illegal mining has not only deprived African countries of legitimate revenues and damaging the environment, but it has also facilitated illicit trafficking of mineral resources and putting lives at grave risk.

“This tragedy is again, a painful reminder that behind every statistic about illegal mining are human beings—young men and women trying to earn a living, support their families and escape poverty,” he said.
Alake emphasized that “no mineral is valuable enough to justify the loss of a human life.”
The AMSG Chairman called for a dual approach: firm enforcement of laws against illegal mining and criminal networks, and the creation of legal, safe and productive pathways for artisanal and small-scale miners.

“The African Minerals Strategy Group will continue to advocate a continental approach that strengthens regulation, improves mine-safety standards, promotes responsible formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining, protects mining communities and ensures that Africa’s mineral wealth translates into decent livelihoods rather than preventable deaths,” he said.
He warned that the Zamboye incident must not become “another statistic that we mourn today and forget tomorrow.
“Africa’s mineral revolution must be a revolution that values both the mineral beneath our soil and the human life above it. We owe the victims of Zamboye more than our condolences. We owe them action,” Alake added.
Artisanal mining employs millions across Africa but remains largely unregulated, with frequent accidents, child labour, and environmental damage reported in mining communities.
Stakeholders said formalising the sector through training, access to finance, safety equipment, and designated mining zones could save lives and increase government revenue.
The AMSG is a continental body of African Ministers responsible for mineral resources, set up to coordinate policy and ensure Africa benefits optimally from its mineral wealth.

By Our Correspondent

In abid to enhance the nation’s revenue earnings,President Bola Tinubu just signed the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Project Incentives (Tax Remission) Executive Order 2026, and it’s designed to do two big things at once: pull in up to $50 billion in fresh capital and add roughly one million barrels per day of crude and condensate from Nigeria’s deepwater fields.

Speaking Tuesday on NTA with Cyril Stober, Engineer Enorense Amadasu, Executive Commissioner for Development and Production at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, represented the Commission Chief Executive.

Amadasu said the order sets up a clear, rules-based investment structure built for the next wave of deep offshore projects. The goal is to cut red tape so international oil companies can move from plan to payout faster.

Right now Nigeria produces about 1.7 million barrels per day of crude and condensate. Deep offshore still plays a smaller role: around 24% of total oil output and 19% of gas.

Amadasu credited the President for steering the sector forward.
“We are on the right path all thanks to Mr. President. It will be a huge leap. As of today, we have mined over 4.6 billion barrels from deep offshore assets. In cargo terms that is over 5,000 tankers,” he said. He added that the new framework now opens more room for growth in deepwater.

The volumes won’t appear from nowhere. Nine projects already have Field Development Plans worth billions approved by NUPRC. The next milestone is Final Investment Decision, and the EO is meant to speed that up.

“So, where will these volumes be coming from? Nine of these projects have approved FDPs so the next step expected is the FID in the near to midterm. The $10bn Bonga South will come in 2027 and within the next four to five years, we are expecting almost an additional one million barrels additional per day,” Amadasu stated.

The order isn’t just about wells. Amadasu pointed to the wider marine economy. To handle the coming surge, Nigeria will need to expand its logistics and marine base to support deepwater operations.

The broader ambition: position Nigeria as the go-to regional center for deep offshore projects in West Africa.

According to the Executive Commissioner, the incentives also deliver: Bigger reserves;:more oil and gas booked for the future,Technology and skills transfer, new expertise coming into local teams .New jobs, employment across drilling, services, and support industries.

In a statement issued by Head, Media and Corporate Comm, Eniola Akinkuotu the 2026 EO ties tax relief to tangible output, with $50bn in investment, 1 million bpd more production, nine shovel-ready projects, and a push to make Nigeria’s deepwater the hub for the region