About NgREN
The Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN) is one of 15 research and education networks (RENs) under the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN). NgREN was established in 2012 by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in collaboration with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors (CVC) and Nigerian universities, with support from the World Bank. It aims to create an elaborate infrastructural backbone that links all research and educational institutions in Nigeria and connects them with other RENs across the globe, for knowledge exchange.
Like all other RENs worldwide, NgREN was designed as a private network that seeks to connect education and research institutions directly to:
- each other,
- other RENs, and
- the “Commercial” or “Commodity” Internet.
NgREN, at inception, covered 27 federal universities, the NUC and the Secretariat of the CVC, in Abuja. Over the years, this number has grown beyond the World Bank’s initial intervention to connect several institutions all the 23 World Bank supported Centres of Excellence in the Nigerian University System. Under its original structure, the Network had a 10-man Governing Board, comprising representatives of the community (NUC, CVC, and the universities) and management that oversaw its day-to-day operations.
NgREN maintains an active subscription to WACREN and WACREN links NgREN to the pan-European data network for the research and education community, GÉANT and other global RENs. NgREN’s subscription provides access to additional internet bandwidth, capacity-building programmes, and other benefits.
The Objectives of NgREN
NgREN was set up with the following objectives:- To provide more and cheaper bandwidth for member institutions.
- To provide efficient network infrastructure to the Research and Education community and establish a framework that enables resource sharing and facilitates innovation and development.
- To provide network services and applications such as learning application software, identity federation, e-content, hosting, network security, bandwidth management, and videoconferencing, among others, to the research community.
- To promote linkages and collaborations between the research community, industry, government, and other international research and education communities to transmit research to commercial products for the nation's benefit.
- To leverage technology to promote new and innovative ways of teaching and learning.
NgREN has been sustained beyond the initial intervention of the World Bank in 2012 by subscriptions paid by participating universities. With the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant lockdown, the need for the NUS to leverage ICT in teaching and learning became more evident. Also, as part of measures to ensure the continued sustainability of the NgREN project, and in line with one of the Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs) of yet another World Bank-supported project, the Second Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE Impact), which requires host institutions to participate in the national REN (in the case of Nigeria, NgREN), the NUC decided to scale up the Network (NgREN) to meet the needs of all 17 ACEs in Nigeria. The services of the NgREN were also expanded to support the six Centres of Excellence under the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project (also a World Bank-supported initiative) in the delivery of online teaching and learning. This means that all 23 Centres of Excellence enjoy the above-listed services offered by the NgREN in addition to the deployment of LMS smart classroom screens.
In 2023, NgREN established last-mile connectivity to Ondo State University of Medical Sciences and re-established a connection to the University of Ibadan, Federal University of Technology, Akure, and University of Ilorin. Also in 2023, the NUC, through NgREN revamped the existing wireless access network within its premises, and 95 EION wireless access point were deployed to augment the existing infrastructure.
To ensure physical security and operational efficiency in maintaining 100% uptime and zero downtime of the services rendered, NgREN deployed its HPC at Rack Centre, a Tier III data centre in Lagos. The Network was also extended to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Federal Ministry of Environment (FMEnv) and Federal Ministry of Women Affairs (FMWA), all Implementing Agencies (IAs) under the SPESSE Project.
With continued support and strategic planning, NgREN has the potential to be an even greater driving force for innovation and development in Nigeria's research and education sectors.
Dr Joshua Atah
Managing Director