The root cause of poor quality of graduates, lack of international recognition of many scholars' publications and lack of applicability of research findings for economic development is traceable to deterioration in research endeavour. The issue of research started on sound footing prior to independence in 1960, but began to weaken in the 1980's. As of now, higher institutions have grown tremendously in number, whereas their products are adjudged half-baked and most researches conducted therein are not considered applicable to economic transformation. Therefore, this paper tries to discuss the development of higher education research in the country, the trend, funding, societal perception, problems and suggested solution towards making research functional again in Nigerian higher institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]