President Bola Tinubu has directed all federal government ministries, departments, and agencies to utilise technologies and products developed by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure.
Tinubu, who was represented by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, made the announcement, on Friday, during the unveiling of the NASENI-Portland Compressed Natural Gas Conversion, Filling, Reverse Engineering and Training Centre in Utako, Abuja.
The move is aimed at promoting locally-made goods and reducing imports, according to a statement released by NASENI on Friday.
As Chairman of the NASENI Governing Board, Tinubu acknowledged the agency’s collaboration with private sector partners in commercialising its products.
He also highlighted the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, which NASENI has joined, as a means to harness Nigeria’s abundant gas resources and achieve cleaner energy.
With this directive, Nigeria’s technological development could advance and reduce the country’s reliance on imported technologies.
Nigeria spends billions of naira annually on software importation, with the government and its agencies being the biggest spenders.
According to the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, Nigeria loses N156bn annually to software importation.
In his welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of NASENI, Khalil Suleiman Halilu, said the facility can convert 15 cars every two hours, translating into an output of 2,700 conversions every month.
“Mr. President, by our calculations, if Nigeria is able to have 10 of this kind of facility in each of the 36 states and the FCT, we will be able to convert every vehicle in the country to CNG within one year,” he said.
He urged the President to give NASENI approval to convert all the vehicles in the State House fleet to CNG.
“We are asking for your approval to do this and showcase our capabilities. Second, we are offering to carry out CNG conversions for every Ministry, Department and Agency of the Federal Government at a cost,” he said.
Early this month, the agency unveiled home-made products in Abuja, and some of these include a NASENI 300-watt LED solar street lamp, a NASENI laptop, a NASENI lithium battery, a NASENI solar irrigation pump, and a NASENI smartphone.
NASENI also mentioned that since the launch of those items, it has received a lot of interest from interested dealers and the general public regarding the availability of these products.