Maduako Igbokwe l Tuesday, February 3, 2021
ONITSHA, Anambra, Nigeria – National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has been charged to jump start technical activities that would enhance growth in the electronic sector of Nigeria.
Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister for Science and Technology gave the charge during a working tour of the Electronics Development Institute (ELDI) at Abba in Anambra state.
Onu said the agency has been given full financial autonomy, adding that they now have power to access its funds and allocation from the Federation Accounts instead of from the parent ministry.
Onu said that this was part of the measures put in place to improve science and technology development in the country.
” We know that the agency has been experiencing poor funding and that is the bane of ELDI and NASENI, to ensure that the problem is solved the agency will now access it’s funds directly from the Federal Allocation,” he said.
The minister announced that with the latest development, Nigeria can now showcase it’s technical products to the entire world and would also benefit from the African Union free trade zone.
Speaking earlier the Managing Director of ELDI, Dr Patrick Okwu announced that the agency has initiated and actively participated in NASENI electronic voting machine and was expanded to include more functions through the involvement of NASENI families for a more robust and efficient products.
He said that the body has produced solar powered, remote controllable farm robots , electronic poultry system and Nigerian Language Translator ( soft ware based ) among others.
He however appealed to the federal government for upward review of the funds meant for the agency in order to ensure increased productivity.
