Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has expressed his profound gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for putting up the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).
This agency is to train 100 Bayelsa youths, modern methods of electrical installation and maintenance.
Jonathan made this commendation on Monday, May 8, at the opening ceremony of the NASENI Skill Acquisition Training and Youth Empowerment Programme on modern methods of electrical installation and maintenance at Otuoke, Bayelsa state.
According to him, without investment in agencies like NASENI and other research and technologies institutions, economic transformations for Nigeria would be difficult to attain.
The former President said that “science and technology is the secret of the ongoing fast developments and advancement in the economies of the developed world”.
He urged the participants to use the starter packs and equipment given to them at the end of the five-day training to modernize their businesses and not to fall into the temptation of selling the starter packs, which were worth millions of naira, but to use them in pursuing economic development for self-reliance.
The Overseeing Officer of NASENI Office of the Executive Vice Chairman, Mrs Nonyem Onyechi, in her address, conveyed the appreciation of the management of NASENI to the former President Goodluck Jonathan for his unwavering support for the Agency while in office.
She said, “the entire board and management of NASENI are eternally grateful to the Statesman, President Jonathan because his efforts on NASENI had enabled it to function optimally to deliver the expected good to Nigerians, bringing innovation and infusion of Science and Engineering to modernize Nigerian industries.”
The workshop was the second of its kind in the South-South geopolitical zone and part of the series of directives from President Buhari to the agency aimed at building the capacity of young people so that they could create jobs and to move toward self-employment.
Explaining further, Onyechi said, “this training workshop and empowerment programme aimed at upgrading the skills of 100 Bayelsa youths in modern methods of electrical installations and maintenance is in line with new trends in the world as we move towards the fourth Industrial revolution, and developments in frontiers of cutting-edge technology shaping the work life.”
She stated that these technologies include artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the internet of things, big data, blockchains, additive manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, gene editing, 5G networks, as well as smart grids and calls for wireless power in every sector of human endeavour, including agriculture, health care, industry, transportation, and hospitality requiring electricity.
