- Agency expresses readiness to partner Proforce, MOMAS, NIAE for Nigeria’s growth
By Frank Momoh
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Prof. Mohammed Haruna and his counterpart at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Maj. Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, on Thursday pledged to bridge Nigeria’s skill gap through training corps members to become Nigeria’s entrepreneurial hub.
According to the two Chief Executives, the new shift to skill development remains the pathway to achieving a sustainable industrial economy for the country and to guarantee its future.
Haruna, underscores that the renewed drive towards attaining accelerated industrial economy for Nigeria will be built on human capital and their ingenuities, stressing that the vigour and focus in NASENI now is to equip young Nigerians that will take up the world through knowledgeable skill sets especially driven on Science Technology and Innovation (STI).
The NASENI boss who disclosed this in Abuja when the DG NYSC and his team paid him a visit at the agency’s Headquarters in Abuja, acknowledged that the NYSC is contributing tremendously to the pool of vibrant and youthful human resources needed to build a new economy and also kickstart a manufacturing sector which is at the heart of economic growth and development of the country.
He said: “NYSC has a complete orientation of those who have the knowledge and intellectual foundation to keep the country in constant supplies of the human capital so we can achieve a meaningful industrial revolution of Nigeria.”
According to him, NYSC and NASENI need to work in collaboration to catch the future young entrepreneurs using this new paradigm and scheme.
He reiterated that NASENI was willing to collaborate with NYSC in order to build a hub of future entrepreneurs that would drive the nation’s economy to the desired heights especially in the development of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Responding, Ibrahim, said NYSC has contributed enormously to the nation’s development, saying the Service introduced skill acquisition and training of corps members as far back as 2012 in order to shape them for future Nigeria development.
Therefore, collaborating with NASENI was a great impetus to the strides which the scheme had already commenced.
He said great potential exists with the youths “because they are innovative and we should encourage them. They did a lot during COVID 19 Pandemic as corps members, they developed an App where children could be educated on the dangers or prevention of the virus”.
“I believe the corps members will benefit so much from NASENI. So we solicit for partnership with the Agency and to work out areas of possible collaboration. We can bring them from other centers to come and learn skills acquisition or technology-based businesses from NASENI. We are ready to work with you”, he stated.
In another development, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Proforce Intelligence System Limited, Mr. Ade Ogundeyin and his team were in NASENI to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on transfer of knowledge in the areas of Automotive Engineering which included: engine production, green transportation, that is Electric Buses (with possibilities of solar options) and CNG Buses, Production of tyres, steel production (Balistic Steels), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or Drone, which also include Weaponized UAS or UAVs and Unmanned Ground Vehicles.
Also, in the new wave of collaboration, the Chairman of MOMAS Electricity Meters, Engr. Kola Balogun and his team paid a courtesy visit to NASENI and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to undertake specific joint projects with legally binding obligations and in turn develop specific written agreement for such projects, setting out each party’s contributions on deliverables and budgets.
The MoU sought to undertake specific joint projects in the areas of research and development of metering technology solutions, develop more research concepts to reform electricity-metering under the power, security and agricultural sectors. The two organisations will Collaborate within the areas of research and development training and capacity building for metering solutions amongst other agreements.
The National Chairman of Nigerian Institute of Agricultural Engineering (NIAE), Prof. Folarin Alonge and his team were amongst the teams which visited the agency headquarters to discuss possible areas of collaboration with NASENII for the development of mechanized agriculture across the country.
According to him, the visit was to follow-up on their previous discussions with NASENI on promotion of science and engineering development in the country.
Responding the NASENI boss said that the agency was willing to partner with the parties, saying they all were helping the agency to carry out its mandate in Nigeria.
The statement, which was made available to the media, was signed Mr. Olusegun Ayeoyenikan: Deputy Director, Information (NASENI).