…As NASENI EVC/CE Craves Support of Governors’ Forum For Agency

By Angeline Mgbele, Bureau Chief, North &  Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Bureau Chief, South West

The Osun State Governor Senator Ademola Adeleke has expressed interest by the Osun State citizens to participate in the on-going Skills Acquisition Training and Youth Empowerment Programme by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), even as the Governor requested the Agency’s management to fasttrack take off of the proposed Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Institute (AMEDI) approved to be sited in Osun State by the Federal Government.

According to a statement authored by  the Director Information & Protocol, Osun State Government House, Olusegun Ayeoyenikan says the Federal Government had approved six (6) Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Institutes, one per geopolitical zone of the country. One of the institutes is to be located in Osun State (South-West).

Senator Adeleke  who paid a courtesy visit to NASENI headquarters on Wednesday in Abuja said that Osun State needed NASENI’s support and partnership, adding that the Agency was key to national development. As an indication of readiness by the State to host the new institute, the governor disclosed he had already approved a land for the development of AMEDI in Oshogbo.

According to Governor Adeleke “We are ready for action not only on the establishment of AMEDI, but also the establishment of technology industrial park in Osun State. We will also welcome NASENI services and products in our State. My requests are many, so I recommend that both NASENI and Osun State work out a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between your Agency and my State”.

Responding, the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer(EVC/CEO), NASENI, Dr. Bashir Gwandu expressed appreciation to Osun State Governor for finding time to visit NASENI while remarking that Governor Adeleke was the first State Chief Executive to visit him since he assumed office as NASENI EVC/CEO in May, 2023. Dr. Gwandu thanked the Governor for the allocation of land and issuance of Certificate of Occupancy for NASENI Institute in Osun State, free of charge.

Dr. Gwandu added that NASENI as an Agency had a lot to offer to the country and that was why it became necessary as the Chief Executive Officer of the Agency to tour the institutes to see for himself what the Agency had and to find out where there was need to change how things were done in the past. He said his vision for NASENI was to introduce new strategies of how the Agency would work or to see its products in the market, not only competing in Nigeria but with technology products from other countries across the world.

The NASENI EVC/CEO used the opportunity to solicit support of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum in funding the Agency to realize its mandate of processing all the necessary resources and products that would create job opportunities and  guarantee economic well-being of the people at the States level.