Khalil Suleiman Halilu has been appointed Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI.
NASENI is a leading government-owned science and engineering infrastructure research agency in Nigeria.
He was appointed by President Bola Tinubu on 1 August, 2023, and replaces Dr Bashir Gwandu who was appointed on 19 May, 2023, by President Muhammadu Buhari just before the end of his administration.
Khalil Halilu is 32 years old and is from Kano State, northwest Nigeria. He has assumed office and his appointment is for an initial period of five years.
Halilu has a first degree in Business Administration (2009), and a Master’s degree in International Business both from the University of Hertfordshire, UK.
He worked with Gongoni Company Ltd, a household products manufacturering company in Nigeria, between 2011 to 2014.
NASENI has been rocked by agitation for leadership position since the end of the tenure of Professor Mohammad Haruna on 2 April, 2023, and his handing over to Mrs Nonyem Onyechi in acting capacity.
The Acting Executive Vice Chairman, Mrs Nonyem Onyechi, handed over to Dr Gwandu on 22 May, 2023.
Dr Gwandu has a first degree in Physics from the University of Sokoto, northwest Nigeria, a Master’s from University of Birmingham and Ph.D from Aston University.
He is an electronics/electrical engineer and has held top management positions in the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.
Professor Mohammad Haruna has had two terms of five years each, and was asked to hand over to the next most senior director. He handed over, as directed, to the Coordinating Director, Planning and Business Development, Mrs Nonyem Onyechi, as Acting Executive Vice Chairman.
Professor Haruna completed his second and final term of five years on 2 April, 2023, but President Muhammadu Buhari extended it by two years to 2 April, 2025.
This was reversed in a government circular from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on 4 April, 2023. The tenure extension was therefore, assumed to have been wrongly made.
Controversy ensued as the Managing Director of a NASENI subsidiary, Hydraulic Equipment Development Institute, HEDI, Kano, Professor Ibrahim Onuwe Abdulmalik, claimed to be the most senior director, not Mrs Nonyem Onyechi.
He petitioned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation that Mrs Onyechi attained the compulsory retirement age of 60 years on 26 November, 2022, and is not a regular career officer. She is one of five persons in office as Coordinating Directors who are political appointees by the President.
NASENI headquarters denied that there was a problem and described the handover as “smooth.”
Although NASENI was established in 1992 to lead research into machinery and related technologies for national development, it has been hindered by lack of funds.
Under Professor Haruna, the agency pushed and got a quarter of one per cent of levy on turnover of firms earning ₦100 million and above in January, 2021 as guaranteed it under the NASENI Establishment Act.
NASENI was also asking for a further one per cent of the Federation Account accruable to it for the promotion of science and technology under the National Assembly Act of 2004.
With more secure funding, the agency has made many breakthroughs, one of which is the foundation laying of the largest solar cells producing factory in West Africa in March, 2023.
Now, Khalil Halilu enters as substantive Executive Vice Chairman for the agency to contribute his quota towards making NASENI a greater engineering research centre.
