{
  "id": 19700714,
  "title": "Reps threaten action as ministers shun research fund hearing",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/reps-threaten-action-as-ministers-shun-research-fund-hearing-19700714",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-12T20:26:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Punch Nigeria",
    "slug": "punch-nigeria",
    "url": "https://punchng.com/reps-threaten-action-as-ministers-shun-research-fund-hearing/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology has threatened to report the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Kingsley Udeh, to the House over his failure to attend a public hearing on a bill seeking to establish a National Research and Innovation Development Fund. The committee described the minister’s absence, alongside that of the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, as unacceptable, particularly as the proposed legislation was sponsored by the executive and transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu. It warned that the ministry’s failure to participate in the legislative process could delay the passage of the bill and undermine efforts to attract research grants from international development partners, donor agencies, United Nations bodies and Nigerians in the diaspora.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}