The American University of Nigeria (AUN) and ASBA Synergy have been selected for a NGN 123 Million Nigeria-Czech Republic Research Project under the Delta 2 Program. It is a project organized by the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on Technology Transfer between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Czech Republic sponsored by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (T.A. C.R.).
The Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on Transfer of Technology between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Czech Republic is tasked with the sole objective of implementing an Agreement signed between Nigeria, represented by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), and the Czech Republic, represented by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (T.A. C.R.). The Agreement aims to promote the adoption and deployment of technological solutions in different sectors of the Nigerian economy.
On Thursday, December 10, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the implementation committee for a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between Nigeria and the Czech Republic on technology transfer.
The PIC opened the Call for Public Proposals for Joint R&D Projects between the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (T.A. C.R.) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) under the Delta 2 Program on May 18, 2022, and closed it on July 13, 2022, aiming to fund 25 projects for this call.
In conformity with the development objectives of our University, AUN took an interest in the program under the supervision of the Dean of the School of Engineering (SoE) Dr. Abubakar Sadiq Hussaini and Dr. Fatima Atiku Abubakar, and accordingly submitted an elaborate technical proposal to partake in the competition for sponsorship approval based on the set-out guidelines.
The AUN proposal was based on a novel Agricultural Value Added Service application, targeted to record and deliver vital agricultural information to farmers within Adamawa and beyond. The proposal was titled: A-YUNIAMS Agricultural – (Yawo Uniform Information and Access to Markets). A-YUNIAMS will be a mobile agricultural solution aimed at bridging the information gap faced by farmers in rural areas of the country. It will be designed to provide seamless information about financial opportunities, market prices of products, and weather information, and also connect the farmers to the market where they can easily sell their products and make a significant profit.
The AUN proposal was submitted in July 2022, in line with the Delta 2 timeline. After scrutiny and extensive evaluation by the panel members of the assessment committee, the proposal was shortlisted for the next phase – to include interview and assessment.
The interview and evaluation were held on November 8, 2022, at the NASENI headquarters in Abuja. The tasks were carried out by the Project Manager, Dr. Abubakar Sadiq Hussaini, and Ms. Salamatu Mohammed representing ASBA Synergy, who faced the panel and justified every bit of the proposal.
On November 24, 2022, the proposal was shortlisted amongst 25 other projects recommended for funding. Accordingly, NASENI invited AUN to the official announcement of successful bids on November 30, 2022. Dr. Abubakar Sadiq Hussaini, Dean of the AUN School of Engineering, one of the proposal's initiators and creators, attended the meeting on behalf of AUN in Abuja.
At the event, it was revealed that over 285 applications were submitted by various Universities, research and development institutions, and private organizations, out of which only 25 projects emerged as successful and were selected.
"I am delighted that our selection is evidence of the excellence and enormous efforts put up by members of AUN team to foster our mission as a Development University, Dean Abubakar said.
"The next step now is the award/funding, which NASENI indicated will be disbursed in January 2023, for the take-off of the Delta-2 work plan. Other Key Information and requirement for the project implementation require our partnership with a private organization to aid production”.
“As a result”, Dr. Abubakar said, “we have proposed to partner with ASBA Synergy Concept Limited – an experienced private company based in Abuja that provides software and hardware solutions”.
The Dean of SoE quoted the Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI as saying, "To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time in the history of Nigeria that private sector and academia are collaborating to jointly submit research and development proposals with work plan for commercialization and mass production from the onset backed by business plans."
American University of Nigeria (AUN) Team:
1.Dr. Abubakar Sadiq Hussaini – Project Manager
2. Dr. Fatima Atiku Abubakar
3. Engr. Francis Chaming
4. Dr. Ahmad Aliyu Maidamisa
5. Prof. Ibrahim Danjuma
6. Dr. Olusegun Ogundapo
7. Engr. Emmanuel Nicholas
8. Mr. Anas Audi
ASBA Synergy Concept Limited Team:
1. Dr. Bashir Gwandu
2. Mr. Wisdom Chama Anuhu
3. Mr. Abubakar Audu
4. Mr. Andrea Pravato
5. Dr. Issa Tamer Elfergani
6. Mr. Nourah Bamalli
7. Ms. Salamatu Mohammed
8. Mr. Abubakar Ibrahim Habu
9. Mr. Murtala Aminu
11. Mr. Nasiru Lawan Magaji
12. Mr. Umar Mijinyawa
13. Mr. Salihu Abdullahi Ahmadu
14. Mr. Abubakar Salihu Musa