The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) announced a $200 million contract with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to manufacture equipment for the agency. Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, the Agency’s Executive Vice Chairman, made the announcement on Thursday, November 2, 2023, during his first television media encounter at the Agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
The interview excerpt was made public in a statement signed by the Agency’s Director of Information, Olusegun Ayeoyenikan. Halilu stated that NASENI, under his leadership, has been actively engaged in several stakeholder engagements, with many organizations expressing interest in its activities for partnership and product offtake.
“One of such partner was the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), which had committed itself to a whopping $200 million procurement agreement with NASENI as long as our agency could produce the kind of products they consume,” the minister stated.
Halilu, who was recently appointed by President Bola Tinubu, stated that his ambition for the Agency’s products and technologies is to make them available in every Nigerian household in the coming years. He noted that expectations from NASENI stakeholders are very high because its activities must ensure transparency and focus to assist the Agency in delivering on its mandate. Halilu revealed that some tangible products derived from NASENI’s prototypes will be available in the market through technology transfer arrangements by the first quarter of 2024.
“Expect some products from NASENI’s R&D efforts in the Nigeria market during the first quarter of 2024.”We are planning a national rebranding to put NASENI products in every home across the country. This is what Nigerians may expect in the coming years. We will no longer sit back and watch countless research and prototypes sit on the shelves. We’ll take them to the market so Nigerians can eat them.” Indeed, one of our ambitions for the coming year is to open NASENI Showrooms in key locations across the country. So NASENI products are not only seen on televisions; anyone can walk into our product outlets and experience the technologies we’ve been discussing.” he stated.
According to him, one of his main concerns since taking office in September has been to devote sufficient attention to improving the Agency’s human capital potential through better employee motivation, allowing them to adapt to the upcoming upheavals. He also stated that stakeholder engagement and attempts to reposition the Agency around its products and technologies continue to be priority goals.
While recalling the Agency’s top management’s recent trip to China, led by the EVC/CEO himself, Halilu said: “We just returned from China with the Vice President from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum where we signed a $2 billion dollar partnership MOU for technology transfer into Nigeria, which is something we were able to achieve in just five weeks of operations. At the same event, we received a large number of partners who provided letters of intent to collaborate with us and invest $4 billion in the country’s economy.”
According to the EVC, NASENI’s journey to China has the potential to bring in $6 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) to Nigeria. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Electric Vehicles (EVs), Agricultural equipment, Electronics and Electrical equipment, and many other sectors piqued the agency’s interest.
