12 Nigerian universities across the six geopolitical zones will begin 2021 on a sound note as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Tetfund, recently commissioned them with a grant of N1bn each as Centres of Excellence to champion research in assigned areas of national priority. Olaoluwakitan Babatunde dissects the implications of R&D vis-à-vis the Centres national development The phrase, “garbage in, garbage out”, is a concept that underscores that flawed or nonsense input data can only produce nonsense output or garbage. It is more like the law of sowing and reaping in religion. The relationship between Research and Development (R&D) and national development is one area this is most manifest. Nations, which don’t care about R&D or throw peanuts at it, reap peanuts. But nations that invest handsomely in R&D reap generously in terms of socio-economic prosperity and quality of life of their citizens. It is, therefore, not surprising that the world’s leading and emerging economies are knowledge economies. They have achieved and sustained their feats by linking education and development through unrelenting investments in R&D.