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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), has extended its Sustainable Empowerment Programme (NSEP) to rural communities in Abia State, with a focus on turning grassroots enterprise into productive and sustainable livelihoods.
Speaking at the Abia edition of the programme at Uma Ukpai Memorial Primary School, Asaga, Ohafia, NASENI’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Khalil Suleiman Halilu said the event was the Federal Government’s way to intensify its push to take science, technology and clean-energy solutions beyond laboratories and urban centres.
Halilu also disclosed that the intervention was part of NASENI’s broader strategy of deploying practical technologies, skills and productive tools to communities while strengthening Nigeria’s capacity for local innovation, job creation and economic self-reliance.
He said the agency was deliberately moving science, engineering and technology from institutions and laboratories to ordinary Nigerians who could apply them to improve their livelihoods.
Halilu emphasized that the choice of Abia was significant because of the state’s long-standing reputation for enterprise, creativity, manufacturing and the ability of its people to create value from limited resources.
He informed that NASENI’s emerging strategic direction, anchored on Creation, Collaboration and Commercialisation, was designed to move the agency beyond research for its own sake towards solutions that could be used by individuals, adopted by businesses and scaled by industries.
“Science, technology and engineering must move beyond laboratories and institutions and translate into practical solutions that improve livelihoods, create opportunities and strengthen communities,” Halilu said.
He urged beneficiaries to see the intervention as an investment in their productive capacity rather than a handout, charging them to deploy the tools and technologies responsibly, create value and, where possible, generate opportunities for others.
The NASENI chief executive said the agency would increasingly judge its interventions by measurable outcomes, including lives improved, businesses strengthened, jobs supported and communities made more productive.
Halilu said NASENI would continue taking the programme to communities across the country, insisting that the ultimate measure of the agency’s work would be whether science, engineering and innovation translated into improved livelihoods, stronger businesses, employment and more productive communities.
The development comes against the backdrop of a growing push in Abia for renewable energy, clean mobility and technology-led economic development.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Dr Armstrong Ume Takang, said the intervention demonstrated how access to public office could be converted into tangible development at community level.
Ume, an indigene of Asaga, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for giving him the opportunity to serve and praised Governor Otti for what he described as his administration’s commitment to infrastructure and development.
He described Halilu as one of the youngest persons to occupy the NASENI leadership position and thanked him for bringing the empowerment programme to Ohafia.
Ume said the people of Ohafia were highly entrepreneurial but needed greater access to science and technology to increase productivity and compete more effectively.
He argued that public service should not be measured by the privileges enjoyed by office holders but by what they were able to return to their communities.
“Development is not about what you alone benefit from. If you are not able to bring development to your people, then you are nobody,” he said, stressing the need for public officers to use access, influence and opportunities to uplift their communities.
According to him, the digital facility would give children in the rural community the opportunity to acquire skills and participate in the global digital economy without having to leave their immediate environment.
Ume further disclosed that he had facilitated engagements between Abia and the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles, with plans for the commissioning of buses, cars and CNG-related projects in Umuahia in the coming weeks.
The Director-General of the Greater Ohafia Development Authority (GODA), Obinna Odum, pledged the authority’s readiness to work with NASENI to expand the Sustainable Empowerment Programme and extend its benefits to more residents.
Odum called for stronger collaboration between NASENI and the Abia State Government to replicate the intervention across the state’s 17 local government areas, arguing that sustained access to technology and productive resources could unlock greater economic opportunities for residents.
The event also brought together community leaders, government officials, beneficiaries and other stakeholders, with the presentation of empowerment kits forming one of its major highlights.
The programme comes weeks after NASENI implemented a similar cleaner-energy-focused empowerment intervention in Kano, where 1,200 beneficiaries were empowered under Phase III of NSEP.
