By Mohammed Nasir Shuaibu (Bauchi State Correspondent)
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi State, have commenced a 2-day training /workshop of 150 academic on how to write grant winning proposals in line with world best academic writings.
Speaking at the commencement of the training, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Muhammad AbdulAzeez, said that the ultimate aims were to strengthen the staff and update their skills to enable them be able to compete with their colleagues elsewhere, write and attract more grants to the University .
Ably represented by the Deputy VC, Administration, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, said that, “The story towards today started last year when we hosted the first North East workshop on grant-winning proposals.”
According to him, “Arising from that workshop, we submitted proposals and we were able to scale through in such a way that 10 of our proposals were given the right to access fund through the National Research Fund,” he added, saying that nine proposals were obtained through Institutional Base Research.”
He also added that the research grant attracted by the University would go a long way in assisting it to re-establish its mandates as a research institution.
Head, Directorate of Research Innovation and Development of the University, Prof. Fatima Sawa, explained that the University got approval for 10 proposals under the National Research Fund to the tune of N219,000,000 and N16.8 million under Institutional Base Research.
She explained that, “Today’s workshop is a result of the fact that we observed the success of last year’s workshop because it helped us to broaden the access for the National Research Fund.”
Fatima Sawa added that, “The workshop is for us to help our colleagues because they have topics, they have concept notes to submit but we have to screen and correct them effectively so that when it is eventually submitted to TETFUND, we will not get rejections.”
According to her, “It’s not as if people have not been applying in the past, they have been applying but because of not following guidelines, budgetary regulations and so many other factors, they were not successful.
“During this workshop, we will check all these things to make sure that the proposals follow the guidelines and the budget are okay before we can send them to TETFUND,” she concluded.
Some of the participants described the training as a welcome development which will re-sharpen their writing skills in order to attract attention from the various agencies and organizations in charge of funding and grants.
They promised to pay attention to the new techniques that will be introduced to them in the cause of the training commending the University management for coming up with the training scheme. NNL.
