By Cross Udo
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said the newly repositioned National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, will be one of the most important legacies his administration would bequeath to its successor administration.

He stated this while commissioning the President Muhammadu Buhari Technology and Innovation Complex at NASENI Headquarters, Idu Industrial Zone, saying that the Agency, under his administration, has been repositioned to become a Technology and Innovation Hub for national development.

Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of NASENI, Prof. Mohammad Haruna, said the agency will soon provide an innovative technology solution to crude oil theft and bunkering.

However, Buhari said the works of science, engineering, and inventions of NASENI will help Nigeria attain some important global targets the country has signed on to.

According to him, “This is one pivotal legacy of this administration. With this complex and available facility, the future of our national competitiveness among global economies is promising.

“We are sure that these advanced science and engineering core facilities will assist our nation in the attainment of Africa Union’s 2063 Agenda and United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, 2030.”

Decrying NASENI’s inability to attain her full potential over the years, Buhari assured of his administration’s determination to reverse the trend.

“NASENI has a long history of establishment and has been in existence for over 30 years now, but the agency has been facing so many challenges that were militating against the realisation of her full potential in line with the Act that established the Agency”, he said.

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He, however, noted that “under my chairmanship, NASENI is undergoing a reinvention and transformation to become a Technology and Innovation Hub for our national development.

“Consequently, we have strategically repositioned NASENI to develop local capacity in machine building and fabrication, which is critical to Nigeria’s Industrial development.”

Impressed with the great strides the agency has made under this administration, President Buhari declared: “NASENI is now domesticating foreign technologies and product development through backward integration”, adding that “the recent attraction of 250 Czeck Koruna or $10.5m Research and Development grant to Nigeria is evidence that our transformation is achieving results in building competitive Agency”.

Buhari also expressed delight that NASENI was advancing the Agricultural Self-Sufficiency, Energy, Power, and Home Grown Technology Programmes of his administration, through its fabrication of machinery, equipment, and devices.

According to him, the agency “is currently implementing Smart Irrigation Projects for multi-crop season farming; the National Tractor Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Redeployment Innovation, in collaboration with Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending,” stressing that the “assembly of two Helicopters towards first Made In Nigeria Helicopter and the development of Solar cells for 100% Solar Module production, using local raw materials, are among patriotic contributions to Nigeria’s transition to a manufacturing economy.”

The President reiterated NASENI’s relevance as a critical agency for the maintenance and sustainability of the nation’s infrastructure.

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Buhari also lauded the Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Haruna, for his exemplary leadership, dynamism, and foresight in advancing the cause of the agency.

“I commend you and direct the conferment of Excellence Service Award on you and a National Honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic, which is to be conferred on you at the last Federal Executive Council of December 2022,” he added.

In his welcome address, the Executive Vice Chairman, acknowledged Buhari’s commitment to the deployment of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) to the centre stage of Nigeria’s socioeconomic activities, noting that it was the first time a Nigerian President was visiting the Agency.

“You are the first and the only Head of Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to have ever paid a visit to any facility of NASENI across the country in the 31 years of the Agency’s existence,” Haruna said.

He stressed, “You have already demonstrated a departure from a commodity-based economy and leading prioritised innovations and Inventions towards manufacturing and knowledge-based economy.”

Haruna assured the President of the Agency’s commitment to contributing towards overcoming the country’s development challenges.

“Furthermore, NASENI is ready and will God willing,  soon provide an innovative technology solution to stopping crude oil theft and bunkering, vandalisation of power lines as well as surveillance and monitoring devices for our rails, roads, and seaways,” the Executive Vice Chairman declared.

The goodwill message from the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, was delivered by Senator Uche Ekwunife, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, while Governors Aminu Tambuwal and Atiku Bagudu of Sokoto and Kebbi States respectively as well as the Minister, Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello, were among dignitaries at the commissioning ceremony.