Dr. Bashir Gwandu, Executive Vice Chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), has called for business collaboration with the Czech Republic.
He made the call when he paid a fact-finding visit on Delta2 Project to the Ambassador of Czech Republic to Nigeria, His Excellency Zdeněk Krejčí, in his office in Abuja, recently.
Dr. Gwandu said he was on a fact-finding visit to know what caused failure of the Delta2, a project which was supposed to benefit technology companies and entrepreneurs in Nigeria and ensure its economic development.
The Delta2 Project was supposed to be a bilateral collaboration between the governments of Nigeria (represented by NASENI) and the Czech Republic (represented by Technology Agency of Czech Republic, TA CR).
It was to ensure take-off of projects that would foster growth and expansion of infrastructure, manufacturing and innovation in Nigeria leading to Made-in-Nigeria technologies and products.
Dr. Gwandu informed the Czech ambassador that the new administration at NASENI was ready to work with the Czech government to drive Nigeria’s industrialisation agenda and attract new investments that would ensure domestication of technologies in the country through partnerships.
He said the mandate of NASENI is to make sure that Nigeria produces most of the goods and services it currently imports of which Nigeria has the capability to produce locally.
This, he said, is aimed developing the country’s economy and creating jobs for millions of Nigerians.
“I want us to work on -government-to-government level on new initiatives we embark on. We want a relationship that is beneficial to our country.
“We have a lot of companies we are reaching out to. We want to work with the Czech government and companies.
“We want them to come here and start producing and domesticating technologies. We want to industrialise Nigeria.
“We want Czech companies to come and invest here in Nigeria and have partnership with us,” Gwandu said.
He added that NASENI is working on new initiatives that would accelerate Nigeria’s industrialisation and would partner companies from the Czech Republic and other countries ready to set up factories and industrial base in Nigeria.
On his part, the Czech ambassador commended the NASENI boss and his team for making out time to visit him at the embassy to enquire on why Delta2 Project did not take off.
Ambassador Zdeněk Krejčí said his country is ready to work with NASENI on scientific cooperations.
“We await your new initiatives. In our country we have a grant agency and a technology agency responsible for scientific cooperations and also the academy of sciences which will be beneficial to you.
“We have about two or three companies that are ready to work with you and three universities working with tropical agriculture. I think they deserve your cooperation,” he said.
The Czech ambassador also stated that his country was ready to work with NASENI to make the new initiatives fruitful.
