The Managing Director, Scientific Equipment Development Institute (SEDI) Minna, Niger State, Prof. Mohammed Ndaliman, has advanced reasons why Nigerians should patronize Made-in-Nigeria science and laboratory equipment as is the case with China and India. In this interview, he averred that such patronage besides boosting local production, job creation will strengthen the value of the naira.
Excerpts…
Brief historical background of SEDI-Minna
The Scientific Equipment Development Institute (SEDI) Minna, is today one institutes of National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), created from the Act which established NASENI in 1992. Before then it was called the Science Equipment Manufacturing Factory (SEMF). The earlier intention was for the establishment to serve as a factory operated by government for production of various Science Equipment. So, with SEDI now under NASENI, its mandate is to research into production and reverse engineering of various systems for mass production of school laboratories, apparatus for Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Introductory Technology, Integrated Science and other equipment.
Part of our mandate is to research int scientific equipment for higher institutions . Also we are to carry out Research and Development (R&Ds) for some instruments, Mechanical and Artisanal works in the country. After we have carried out R&Ds, and the results or what have you, all are expected to be transferred to SMEs or individuals for the purpose of mass production. So going by the mandate given to SEDI by NASENI, we can research into all the above to evolve a sustainable technological system for production for all scientific industries in the country and also produce them in large quantities and thereby achieving gradually the process of industrialization of the country.
Now you also asked how the story of the institute had been as far as its mandate is concerned. SEDI Minna has demonstrated capacities and also given opportunities to dispense capacity and skills in the areas of laboratory, school laboratory equipment and all other areas which I mentioned earlier like machine building and also reverse engineering as part of our mandate. We have been able to develop various components and machines and now working on the processes of sensitizing stakeholders on how to transfer some of these technologies to those who are interested in using them to do business. So again, over the years we have also been able to offer consultancy services to various individuals and organizations in the areas of scientific equipment development.
We have been able to come up with products that reduce hardship in schools in terms of organizing practical sessions for students. Our star products are the various Science kits: primary and Junior secondary Science kits (JSK) and we also have mathematical kits. The kits contain various items and apparatus required to carry out experiments, scientific investigation and observations by young stars in schools. So the kits, by God’s grace, I assure you that before middle of 2022, you will come back to us and we will show a complete kit that can be used to conduct laboratories practical at Senior secondary school level. These are parts of the remarkable achievements we have made over the years.
Our challenges and efforts at tackling them
Let me take you back a little in this conversation, I said the Institute was established over 30 years ago. So, if you would reflect on institutional operations, it is 30 years of experience and operations. Therefore, first it takes constant maintenance to retain the qualities of what was installed at the outset. That’s how it is supposed to be especially for things to remain as envisioned from start. Some of the challenges now are infrastructural related and closely connected to that is funding. One of the challenges we have now is the ability to carry out manufacturing of R&Ds results. I had earlier told you that SEDI Minna was established as a manufacturing outfit and later converted to a development institute. So, because of the earlier mandate, its infrastructural emphasis was to provide various manufacturing endeavours. For instance, if you are into manufacturing, you will discover that 90% of the man-power required comprises of artisans and probably technicians as we do the production.
But talking of machines to an institute, it’s just manufacturing of machines and you will be thinking of research and development and less of Artisans and technicians. Therefore this is one area now where we have a lot of challenges especially in terms of the nature of man-power composition. The nature of infrastructure on ground are not fully researched-based and the man-power and infrastructure also are not researched based. The other challenge staring us in the face now is when you come to the issue of research which normally requires some sophisticated instrument and equipment including high level knowledge, nevertheless we are working toward alleviating these challenges. Alright first of all, when we talk in terms of finance, we try to sensitize people who would have one thing or the other to do with the institute so that in addition to whatever amount we get from the government, we would add it to the little funding which we derive from those who patronize the institute in terms of internally generated revenue (IGR) which we use to augment the financial needs of the Institute. Then second, some of the dilapidated infrastructures; we’ve sort approval from various authorities and I must give accolades to our Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Haruna for the supports he has given to us and also he has continued to look for ways out whenever we call on the headquarters for support. Through these supports and other contacts, we have been able to find ways to see how we’ll reduce the level of dilapidation of our infrastructures. Now you can see we are making efforts to either replace some of the broken down equipment that are no longer functional. Also rather we are making efforts to procure new ones. So we’re gradually coming up to get our infrastructures updated and I think in no distant time perhaps within one to three years, we would be where we are aspiring to be. We should be able to recover these infrastructures or technological equipment and production systems. The next challenge we are trying to resolve is staff orientation and development. For instance about six years ago in SEDI there was no staff apart from the Managing Director with a Ph.D in the Institute. But,I’m happy to say that within the last three years, we have a lot of people with Masters and not less than six Ph.Ds. So we are coming to that level where a very good research institute is expected to have staff with high level specialized knowledge and state-of-the-art infrastructures meant for research and development. That is where we’re getting to now. So we’re now taking various steps to get to that level so that we can tackle with easy the challenges that I have earlier mentioned.
Achievements
We thank God in very great ways for the moderate achievements attained by the institute. First in the areas of actualizing our mandate, we have been able to come up with various science kits. We call them junior secondary science kits (JSK) and also, we have the primary science kits. There are the mathematical kits. All these are innovation to serve like taking a mobile science laboratory to schools, probably when one class or school finished using it , it goes to another school or class. It is cost effective and it will solve the problems of lack of fund needed to build standard science and technology laboratories for all schools. I imagine a situation where laboratories have to be built for all schools. The advantage of these mobile science kits is that even schools in remote locations are not left out of the benefits of performing scientific experiments. Not long ago , we donated such kits to some pupils in schools in our settlement here. Talking also on reverse engineering issue, we have imported some latest equipment which we split or dismantle and by using our own creativity to build one that is similar to them. In the process of doing this, we are building local capacity to fabricate machines so that we can produce locally and give to industrialists. We have been able to achieve several reverse engineered equipment by building things like plates, shaping machines, glaze mixing machines, screen printing machines and sheet metal splitting machines.
Other products of the Institute include ceramic wares, laboratory measuring cylinders, beakers, funnel, water dispensers, aspirator bottles. Some of the above mentioned items also have been produced in plastic forms so they can be easily handled by our children in primary and junior secondary school levels than the delicate ones produced in a glass form. All these were produced in our glass and allied workshop. Now things like other metallic object like burners were produced from engineering workshop. Apart from laboratory equipment, we have rulers, Computer hardware, work station and other teaching aids. The Institute’s wooding workshop also produces both home and school furniture. In the ceramics section, we produce ceramic cup, flower vase made from ceramic. In essence, let me tell you we have enough to produce as far as our scientific mandate is concerned; it’s just a question of infrastructure and when the infrastructure is perfected every other thing will follow.
A new NASENI and SEDI as institute
Looking at new horizons, people say sky is the limit but from what I am seeing now on the basis of challenges, we are thinking that most of these challenges I mentioned like finance, dilapidated infrastructures or the research infrastructure, l see all of them becoming a thing of the past with the restoration of NASENI funding mechanism, due honour to the visionary father of the nation, the Chairman of NASENI Governor Board, President Muhammadu Buhari, and also kudos to the irrepressible passion and doggedness of our Executive Vice Chairman, Haruna. The present government is taking the right steps to get science and technology to drive the Nigeria economy to the benefits of all sectors of Nigeria.
Flooding of Nigerian markets with foreign science and laboratory equipment
The country’s parallel foreign exchange rate is increasingly rising now to about 565 naira to a dollar, even when the official rate is just about 416 naira and the gap is about 160 between official rate and the parallel market. Now that gap exists because of the effects or the fact that almost everything we need in this country is imported. So not just scientific laboratory equipment alone, it is like everything we need, we import and we do not have confidence in using anything which is produced in our own country. Nations such as India and China are amongst the world biggest economies today because they have the national discipline to consume their own products. India particularly should serve as the right example to Nigeria. In India almost everything they want, they look inward except if they had tried to produce such things but they could not. That is when they will attempt to get them imported. That also should be our attitude to socio-economic strategy needed to develop our country. So, our destiny is on our hands and everyone should look at SEDI as having the mandate to transfer its production systems, scientific apparatus and all laboratory equipment to the private sector for onward mass production and commercialization. We are therefore using this medium to invite Nigerian entrepreneurs to come to take over the technologies behind our production systems and to do business with them. By So in doing, we will be strengthening our economy and reducing the cost of foreign exchange used for importation of all manner of items into the country.
Relevance of SEDI-Minna to Nigeria’s socio-economic development
In the arena of socio-economic development, I told you by implication if we are able to transfer the technologies or our production systems and various scientific equipment, apparatus, in which case very many of them will be produced within the country and by Nigerian business men and women, then, we are positively affecting the socio-economic realms of the country. Of course, we would have transformed the economy of the country or end up influencing the economy in the direction of a knowledge-based economy and therefore our activities will checkmate continuous capital flight that have always been the case in the meantime.
So, we will be strengthening the value of our national currency and also preventing currency devaluation which is the case presently because we now have a situation where the naira is chasing the dollars needed for importation of all things into the country. Not only SEDI Minna needs the strengthening now but also the general manufacturing sector of the economy needs to be revitalized so that production will increase. A productive economy always strengthens both the currency and the general economy of the country. In other words, I am saying that our institute SEDI is a critical unit of the Nigeria manufacturing sector. The institute was set up to strengthen the manufacturing sector and for the general economic development of the country
