The Executive Vice Chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Dr. Bashir Gwandu, has visited the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Nigeria, His Excellency Zdeněk Krejčí, for business collaboration and fact-finding on Delta2 Project.

Dr. Gwandu who paid a courtesy call to the Czech ambassador in Nigeria at his office in Abuja on Friday, August 18, 2023, said he was on a fact-finding visit to know why the project which was supposed to benefit Nigeria’s technology companies and entrepreneurs and the country’s economic development failed.

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) that would 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 ambassador that the new administration at NASENI was ready to work with the Czech government to drive Nigeria’s industrialization agenda and attract new investments in the country that would ensure domestication of technologies through partnerships.

According to him, the mandate of NASENI was to make sure that Nigeria produces most of the goods and services it currently imports of which Nigeria has the capability to produce locally, thus 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 can 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 industrialize Nigeria.

“We want Czech companies to come and invest here in Nigeria and have partnership with us,” Gwandu said, adding that NASENI was working on new initiatives that would accelerate Nigeria’s industrialization and would partner companies from the Czech Republic and other countries ready to set up factories and industrial bases in Nigeria.

On his part, the Czech ambassador commended the NASENI EVC and his team for making out time to visit him at the embassy to enquire on why Delta2 Project did not take off. He said his country was ready to work with NASENI on scientific cooperation.

“We await your new initiatives. In our country, we have a grant agency and a technology agency responsible for scientific cooperation 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, adding that they were ready to work with NASENI to make the new initiatives fruitful.

•PHOTO: L-R;Dr. Bashir Gwandu, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and Czech Republic Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency Zdeněk Krejčí when the former paid the Ambassador a courtesy visit on Friday 19^thAugust, 2023 in Abuja.