Forum of Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer, Nigerian Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (PICTT-NASENI) has appealed to the Federal Government (FG) to disburse funds to the beneficiaries of the Delta-2 project of the PICTT-NASENI.
   
In a letter to President Bola Tinubu, signed by the Coordinator of PICTT-NASENI, Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, the group noted that the payment is long overdue.
    
According to them, the disbursement of the funds was supposed to have been completed before December 2022, considering that January 2023 was listed as the commencement date for all projects under the Delta-2 Programme.
 
In the letter, copied to the President and Chairman of the board of NASENI, the group lamented that most of the beneficiaries obtained bank loans with huge interest rates in lieu of disbursement of the funds from the PICTT. It, therefore, lamented that the delay in disbursement of funds, coupled with the recent removal of fuel subsidy, has made their financial situation more challenging.  
 
The amount, N83 million, the group said, is supposed to be a research grant and a loan from the Federal Government through NASENI, and not a gift.  
   
“The Federal Government, through NASENI, was to receive and recover its investment by acquisition of 70 per cent of equity and intellectual property ownership of the two softwares,” the group said. 
 
They lamented that out of 285 applications from Nigerian academics and intellectuals, only 25 were successful (five were added in case any of the 25 defaulted), because their inventions were considered viable and beneficial to the Nigerian economy.