By Mohammed Mohammed
The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna and Director General/Chief Executive of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) Dr. Halilu Shaba have agreed to work together for the development of Nigeria’s space resources.
The collaboration in local content, design and fabrication of space technologies will assist Nigeria in meeting overall socio-economic growth and development of the country, especially insecurity.
Spokesperson for the agency, Mr. Segun Ayeonikan, quoted the NASENI boss as saying that the collaboration will include NASENI assisting NASRDA in fabrication and design of drones and rockets thereby developing local capacities in those areas and also to conserve the country’s foreign exchange.
Without such collaboration, most hi-tech equipment used in space technologies are imported to the country. The agreements were reached today in Abuja when the Director General of NASRDA paid a courtesy visit to the management of NASENI.
While explaining the reasons for the visit, Dr. Shaba disclosed: “There was no better time to visit NASENI than now to congratulate the agency on federal government’s approval to release the 1% of the federation account funding window to NASENI as contained in its establishment Law.”
He said further that the feat which was attributed to the leadership prowess of Haruna came as a major breakthrough for the entire Nigeria’s science, technology and innovation system because the singular effort would open further doors to positive actions by successive governments to make science and innovation funding a priority in Nigeria.
According to him, before this NASENI’s feat, the budgeting system of the country had never been in favour of Nigeria’s science, technology and innovation system which had made the socio-economic development efforts of the country very difficult.
While commending the rare hope which NASENI’s special fund brought to the sector, he said there was need for every well-meaning stakeholder to rally support for the Agency.
“Without investment in science and technology and innovation as a matter of priority, it will be difficult continuously to achieve economic growth and development of our country”.
He stressed further that: “The way out therefore is for the government to make funding of the sector a major focus and our coming to NASENI is to identify with this great feat of achieving special funding of 1 percent federation Account for NASENI which we believe signaled the beginning of good things to come for the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) sector.
Shaba described the approval of one percent funding for NASENI as rather a life-time achievement which when reminisced over in retirement would cause him to be happy because of the future positive effects on the economy.
In his response, the NASENI Chief Executive said the agency had never engaged in any venture all alone without collaboration and synergy with others because NASENI was not established to reinvent the wheels.
He said: “when you collaborate, you gain more speed, make more successes, progress and that way you prevent needless duplication of efforts and waste of resources.”
The EVC/CE assured NASRDA of unbroken working collaborations, going forward, in all the areas which have been identified and many more. He said NASENI was expected to collaborate in the achievement of its statutory mandate of providing home initiated and relevant processes, capital goods and equipment for the overall socio-economic development of the country.
He recalled that NASRDA was an offshoot of NASENI, in fact, a space programme within the mandate of NASENI before it was established as a full-fledge space Agency. “Therefore, a working collaboration between NASENI and NASRDA always is a welcome development” he said.
