The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) announced on Monday that it will begin manufacturing locally made transformers. The move is intended to lower power prices, address supply deficits, and resolve Nigeria’s chronic power‑supply problems. The announcement was made by Oluwaseyi Ogungbenro, President of the Technical Staff Association of NASENI, during a press conference following a joint staff‑union meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
Ogungbenro disclosed that more than one hundred staff members have been sent to China for technical and technology‑transfer training. He said the trainees are now in the final stage of the program and that transformer production will commence shortly. “All pending issues on power supply will be defeated when the company starts operation, and the capacity of our power‑holding companies will be greatly improved,” he asserted. He also highlighted recent progress in solar‑cell production, noting that the block‑laying ceremony for Nigeria’s first solar‑cell plant—the first in Africa—has taken place. This project is expected to make solar panels cheaper, boost exports, and help solve the nation’s energy challenges.
The unions also called for the immediate release of NASENI’s approved 2022 allocation. To date, only eight percent of the budget, which has been approved by the National Assembly and signed by the President, has been disbursed. The unions appealed to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Governors Forum, and the National Economic Council to release the remaining funds without further delay, emphasizing that NASENI is a key economic and technological solution to the country’s problems. “If NASENI has achieved so much with just 8 % of its budget, imagine what can be done with 100 %,” the unions said.
Workers also welcomed the federal government’s decision to extend the tenure of Executive Vice Chairman Mohammed Haruna by two years. They argued that the extension will help Nigeria achieve self‑sufficiency in food security, develop indigenous weapon technology, produce the first West African aircraft, expand solar‑cell capacity, complete the home‑grown transformer production line, and advance agricultural and industrial tool manufacturing for food safety and an industrial revolution.
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