Buhari swears in committee for Nigeria, Czech tech transfer

By Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated the implementation committee for a Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria and the Czech Republic on transfer of technology.

The ceremony, which was performed on behalf of the President by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, had representatives from various ministries, agencies and departments in attendance, while the main partnership would be run by of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).

Explaining the target of the agreement to reporters after the ceremony, the Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Sanni Haruna, said the programme has mutual benefits for both countries.

According to him, primary areas of target for cooperation and technology transfer include agricultural development as well as solid minerals.

“This was for the inauguration of the implementation committee of Memorandum of Understanding between Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Nigeria on technology transfer and joint research for the mutual benefits of the two countries, but most importantly, for bridging technology gap between Nigeria and developed nations.

“The Czech Republic is represented by Technology Agency of Czech Republic, while Nigeria is represented by NASENI. Mr. President has approved the implementation of the MoU and there are imputes from relevant ministries through participation of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Budget and national Planning, to ensure that Nigeria derives maximum benefit from this relationship.

Also speaking after the ceremony, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, explained that the agreement would create opportunities for the youth in the areas of Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence.

“This is focusing on technology transfer between Nigeria and the Czech Republic; and as you are very much aware, the Czech Republic is one of those countries in Europe that has vast amount of technology and in the yester years, we used to send our students to the former Czechoslovakia as it was called.”