The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has come under scrutiny over its latest Sustainable Empowerment Programme in Ohafia, Abia State, with questions mounting over whether the initiative represents genuine economic empowerment or another short-term distribution exercise dressed up as technological development.
The programme, held on Thursday at the Uma Ukpai Memorial Primary School in Ohafia, was presented as part of NASENI’s drive to deploy technology, innovation and engineering solutions to communities across the country.
But beyond the speeches, promises and ceremonial presentations, a fundamental question remains: what happens to the beneficiaries after the cameras leave?
While NASENI has repeatedly promoted its intervention programmes as tools for job creation, productivity and grassroots industrialisation, the Ohafia event again raises concerns about the sustainability, scale and measurable impact of such interventions.
The agency says it is implementing more than 40 intervention programmes nationwide. Yet Nigerians are entitled to ask how many permanent jobs these programmes have created, how many beneficiaries have established sustainable businesses and what mechanisms exist to track the beneficiaries months or years after receiving support.
Technology Claims, Relief-Item Reality?
NASENI’s mandate is centred on science, engineering infrastructure, technology development and commercialisation.
That makes the growing emphasis on items such as solar home systems, cooking stoves, cash support and food packages difficult to ignore.
While such assistance may provide immediate relief to struggling families, critics could reasonably question whether distributing basic support packages is sufficient to demonstrate the kind of technological transformation Nigerians expect from an agency established to drive science and engineering infrastructure.
The bigger issue is not whether beneficiaries appreciate the items.
It is whether the interventions can move them from dependence to sustainable production, employment and enterprise ownership.
More Promises, More Questions
At the Ohafia event, several additional development projects were highlighted, including solar home systems, a proposed digital learning centre and planned CNG and electric-vehicle initiatives.
However, promises of projects yet to be completed cannot substitute for measurable results already delivered.
The public needs timelines, budgets, beneficiary numbers, project locations, implementation partners and clear evidence of completion.
For an agency operating within Nigeria’s public sector, announcing projects is the easy part. Delivering them, maintaining them and demonstrating their economic impact is the real test.
‘Development Is Not About What You Alone Benefit From’
Takang, while praising President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Abia State Governor Alex Otti, delivered a powerful message on public service.
“Development is not about what you alone benefit from. If you are not able to bring development to your people, then you are nobody,” he said.
The statement, however, raises an equally important question for NASENI itself:
Can the agency convincingly demonstrate that its interventions are producing development beyond the event venues?
If the answer is yes, Nigerians deserve to see the figures.
How many beneficiaries remain economically active? How many businesses have survived? How much income has been generated? How many jobs have been created? How many interventions have moved beyond pilot stages?
GODA Wants Expansion Across Abia
The Director-General of the Greater Ohafia Development Authority (GODA), Engr. Obinna Odum, called for the programme to be replicated across Abia’s 17 local government areas and pledged partnership with NASENI.
The proposal sounds attractive, but expansion should not become an excuse for multiplying programmes before the existing ones are properly evaluated.
Before NASENI takes the initiative to every local government in Abia, the agency should first demonstrate that the Ohafia model works, delivers measurable economic value and has a credible system for monitoring beneficiaries.
The Bigger NASENI Question
NASENI was established to help Nigeria bridge the gap between scientific research, engineering innovation and industrial production.
That is an enormous responsibility in a country battling unemployment, poverty, weak manufacturing capacity, energy challenges and dependence on imported technology.
Consequently, Nigerians should expect more than ceremonial empowerment events.
They should expect factories, functioning technologies, commercially viable enterprises, skilled workers, patents translated into products, sustainable businesses and jobs that remain long after government officials have left the podium.
The agency says it has more than 40 interventions across the country.
The question now is simple:
How many of those interventions can NASENI point to as undeniable, measurable and sustainable success stories?
Until the agency provides transparent figures and long-term evidence of impact, its growing catalogue of empowerment programmes risks being viewed less as a revolution in science and engineering and more as another cycle of government intervention, speeches, photographs and temporary relief.
