Labour unions laud tenure extension for NASENI boss

Lament release of eight per cent approved fund

The joint action congress of the staff unions in the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), yesterday, hailed the two-year tenure extension for the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Muhammed Haruna, by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Haruna’s tenure extension followed expiration of his tenure this week after the successful completion of his second tenure of five years each.

The Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and Technical Staff Association of NASENI (TSAN) said the extension would help to consolidate many ongoing inventions and interventions in different sectors in the country. They described the decision as the “smartest move” by the President to stabilise researches and inventions by NASENI.

They made this known during a media briefing addressed by TSAN President, Dr. Oluwaseyi Ogungbenro and NASU-NASENI Coordinator, Tijani Wakili. According to the unions, the few additional years will facilitate weapon production, development of first-ever aircraft in West Africa and enhance capacity for solar cell production.

But they pleaded with the government to release the funds approved for NASENI by the National Assembly, alleging that the agency had only been able to access eight per cent of its budgetary allocation.

Urging the government to expedite action on the new wage structure for NASENI workers, the unions announced their support for Buhari’s action at a briefing in Abuja after a congress.

Ogungbenro, who presented the position of the two associations, said: “The unions received with great delight, the decision of the Federal Government to extend, by two years, the tenure of our indefatigable, pragmatic, productive, industrious and dynamic Executive Vice Chairman.

“NASENI under Haruna’s watch has demonstrated uncommon capacity in utilising science and technology to turn around the fortunes of this nation through its various programmes, interventions, research output, technology transfer, collaborations, reverse engineering and much more.”

On the non-release of full funds approved for the agency, Ogungbenro said: “However, it may interest you to note that, till now, NASENI has only been able to access eight per cent of the funds approved by National Assembly and signed by the President. If NASENI has been able to do so much in one year with eight per cent, one can only imagine what it will achieve if granted access to 100 per cent of its approved funding.

“We, therefore, graciously and firmly appeal to relevant authorities – the Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning; Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS), Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and National Economic Council (NEC) to ensure the release of the remaining fund without further delay because NASENI remains the economical and technological solution for myriad of problems confronting this great nation. Advanced nations of the world are where they are today in their military might and competitive economy mainly because of the robust spending on science and technology. This we cannot shy away from if we must surmount our problems and grow our economy.”