NASENI’s innovations and transformations

Till date, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), a federal agency set up to actualise Nigeria’s vision for home-grown technologies and science innovation, has successfully developed more than 150 innovative products.

With its highly skilled and proficient management team and productive workforce, it has in its kitty prototypes bolstered by its development institutes and centres, thus contributing to fostering excellence in science, engineering technology and manufacturing. But then, it would appear there were missing links. Similar to the scenario painted by the famous Psychologist, Steuart Henderson Britt, when he likened ‘doing business without advertising to winking to a girl in the dark’, you see yourself but no one else sees you.

Here is an organisation mandated to make available in the Nigerian market the primary and intermediate capital products required for machine and equipment design, fabrication, and mass production to provide an enabling environment for sustainable industrialisation of the country.

The agency, always could boast of various innovative products that are indispensable for a nation’s technological leap. But it existed without any direct linkage with Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) or big corporations whose day-to-day activities required the use of these technologies, machines and equipment until recently.

Monday, September 4, 2023, a new Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu was appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead NASENI. Note that the President himself is the chairman of the Governing Board of NASENI in line with the agency’s establishment Act 2004.

With the benefit of hindsight, the appointment turned out to be magic wand. NASENI today stands as a beacon of renewed hope for Nigeria’s indigenous technological advancement, aligning with its core mission of fostering needed dynamic science and engineering infrastructure for national progress.

The agency under the leadership of Halilu has articulated a bold vision and promoting a shared management-staff philosophy hinged on 3Cs principles of Creation, Collaboration and Commercialisation to fuel Nigeria’s innovation and sustainable future. This approach has indeed opened more doors to result-based NASENI’s partnerships with both national and international corporate communities.

Inspired by previous experience as a techpreneur and businessman before his appointment to lead NASENI, Halilu’s leadership model is to do everything to conserve resources, avoid duplication of efforts, and shorten go-to-market time. What this means is that wherever NASENI finds serious partners who are already operating in areas of interest, it will work with them to improve the agency’s products and take these products to the market.

As a government agency, Halilu said NASENI under him is not out to compete with the private sector. Instead, the agency will serve as partners and enablers, helping the private sector to achieve everything from design to testing, or helping companies in scaling-up production capacity and to seek out new markets.”

As a result of this strategy, within a space of one year the agency had unveiled to the general public some branded technological products manufactured in collaboration with its partners. They included solar irrigation systems, electric vehicles (ranging from tricycles to motorcycles), NASENI home solar system, animal feed milling machines, laptop, smartphone, solar streetlamp and lithium battery. All these efforts were geared towards creating jobs and to reduce import bills.

• Remi Adefulu, a journalist and public affairs analyst, wrote from Abuja.