The first batch of smart meters, produced by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) will hit the market next week.
The innovation which was invented by NASENI was successfully bided for and won by the private sector which commenced mass production and is ready to push the products into the market.
Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Haruna who made the disclosure said several of the agency’s innovations have offtakers.
He explained that the agency looks out for what the country desperately needs and seeks partnership with the private sector before embarking on projects that are always of international standard.
He said: “The products on display today are not same as last year it has always been our policy to display new exhibitions every year.
“I assure you that several of these products have offtakers already, there are some private sectors already who have agreements with us for mass production, we are not displaying what we displayed last year in terms of the smart meters because the private sector that won the bidding to take it to the market are in the process of mass production, they just assured me that the first batch of mass production will be out next week.
“So before we do anything we ask what is needed in the market and who is the private sector partnering with us locally to ensure that these products are of international standard and have the wherewithal for exportation luckily their where promising structures and facilities available by the government to promote export, export promoting council has so many packages that encourages and supports exportation of Nigerian products with so many incentives and the private sector is aware of it and our partnership gives them an edge to benefit from such incentives’’.
“In terms of petroleum, our contribution to the sector is trying to ensure that within a short period, our modular refinery system has reached a stage where it can be developed. It is already done, however there are additional research and work to perfect it to ensure it can be deployed and now with funding guaranteed and provided for NASENI, I think it will be easier for us to go forward. Capacities of some researchers that we need to enhance to be able to perfect this in our plan.
“There are promising indicators already against the backdrop of a World Bank report of January 2022. Nigeria’s economy is expected to grow by 2.5% in 2022 and 2.8% in 2023. Based on the report, global growth is expected to decelerate markedly from 5.5 per cent to 4.1 percent in 2022, then 3.2 percent in 2023. In order to sustain this economic growth, Nigeria has no alternative than to continuously invest generously in research and development in the areas of Science, Technology and Innovation.”
