FUL Secures N3bn Grant for AI, Robotics and Cyber Sciences

Federal University Lokoja (FUL) has secured a N3bn Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) grant to establish a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Cyber Sciences, Vice-Chancellor Gbenga Solomon Ibileye said.

He disclosed the award on Monday at a press briefing ahead of the university’s 10th Convocation on Saturday. The proposed centre will provide a platform for research, collaboration and capacity building in emerging technologies. Ibileye, who became vice-chancellor in February, called the award one of his administration’s major milestones in repositioning FUL as a centre for research, innovation and technological development.

What does the N3bn award cover?

The announcement supplies no budget allocation, work packages, staffing plan, equipment schedule, implementation timetable or research-performance measures. The figures are university-reported and come without an independent evaluation in the announcement.

For R&D managers, the funding confirms an institutional commitment, not a measured result from an AI, robotics or cyber-security programme. The immediate budget questions are how N3bn divides among laboratories, compute, personnel, partnerships and recurring costs.

FUL has also submitted more than 50 research proposals to national and international funding agencies since appointing its first Grants Officer, Grace Korter. The submission count shows grant activity, although the university disclosed neither a success rate nor the value of those proposals.

How is the academic portfolio changing?

Iibileye said: “FUL has also recorded significant progress in academic development, with eight programmes securing full accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC), while 10 others are undergoing accreditation.”

Fourteen new programmes began with pioneer students in the 2026-27 academic session: artificial intelligence, cyber security, data science, software engineering, psychology, social work, and criminology and security studies. The university named seven examples rather than all 14 titles and supplied no intake, faculty or laboratory-capacity figures.

For portfolio planning, full accreditation separates the eight approved programmes from the 10 still under review. Ibileye set a condition for the expansion: “Expansion must never outpace quality. Growth must be matched by the resources, systems and capabilities required to sustain it.” The new courses, laboratory project and digital systems will test that condition because the university must add teaching and research capacity alongside enrolment.

Which infrastructure and facilities are moving?

FUL has deployed 10 Starlink terminals to improve internet connectivity and started implementation of a new Learning Management System (LMS, a platform for digital and blended learning). All 100-level courses have been uploaded. Connectivity and course delivery can support remote instruction, but the announcement identifies no laboratory bandwidth, high-performance computing or specialised AI hardware.

Construction of the General Science Laboratory Building at the Felele Campus, supported by BUA Group, has reached the roofing stage. Work has also begun on a pedestrian flyover at the main gate, following geotechnical investigations into ground conditions.

FUL is pursuing a separate N3bn public-private partnership hostel project. It has also accessed TETFund support for other facilities and assessment:

• N335m for a NEEDS assessment.
• N700m for laboratory development.
• N400m for classroom development.
• N300m under a zonal intervention.

Taking those four separately listed interventions together, they total N1.735bn. The new centre’s N3bn award is larger than that combined figure, although the briefing did not explain whether the centre grant overlaps with the laboratory allocation.

How much staff capacity is being funded?

Twenty-one academic staff have benefited from the TETFund Academic Staff Training and Development Scheme, for which N158.9m has been approved. The university did not state the total academic workforce, so the scale of training coverage cannot be calculated.

TETFund conference sponsorship received approval for 190 of 200 applications, and every one of 109 applications from non-academic staff succeeded. An N50m vehicle refurbishment loan scheme for staff is also in place, while newly acquired buses and electric tricycles address campus transport. These measures support staff operations, but they do not substitute for the technical equipment or research personnel needed by the proposed centre.

Student support has also drawn on NELFUND. Disbursements of about N188m and N199m benefited 1,631 and 1,665 students, respectively. The university has made its “Vice-Chancellor for a Day” initiative permanent, using it to expose students to leadership and institutional decision-making.

What happens at the convocation?

FUL expects 5,638 students to graduate at the 10th Convocation:

• 4,828 first-degree graduands.
• 182 diploma recipients.
• 628 postgraduate graduands.

The pioneer class of the Centre for Safety Management will contribute 22 master’s degree and 11 postgraduate diploma candidates. Three honorary degrees will go to Dahiru Mangal, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo and veteran journalist Babajide Kolade-Otitoju.

The ceremony takes place at the Main Campus in Felele, Lokoja, under the theme “Fifteen Years, Ten Convocations: Consolidating Excellence, Building Partnerships and Shaping the Future.” It will also stream online so families, graduands and international students unable to attend can participate.

Which partnerships may support the centre?

FUL has secured access to the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme and is strengthening university partnerships with institutions in Egypt, South Africa and Canada. It has renewed its partnership with Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigeria-Korea Friendship Institute of Vocational and Advanced Technology in Lokoja.

The announcement gives no grant values, project scopes or delivery dates for these links. Ibileye also acknowledges continuing constraints in accommodation, roads, infrastructure, utilities and funding, and says the administration will pursue strategic partnerships and resource mobilisation to close those gaps.

For FUL, the N3bn award expands the potential research budget, but its value now depends on an implementation schedule, operational laboratories and funded projects that convert the new centre, programmes and partnerships into research capacity.