NASENI’s modular irrigation project receives a N24 billion grant from Buhari.

FastNews reports that the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has been given N24 billion by President Muhammadu Buhari to carry out a smart modular irrigation project.

Professor Mohammed Sani Haruna, the Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of NASENI, revealed this to State House Correspondents on Friday following a meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

According to Haruna, who claimed to be at the Villa to present the President with financial information regarding the agency’s operations, the modular irrigation project would advance agricultural development in the nation by enabling farmers to grow crops three times per year.

Executive Chairman of the agency, needs to be updated on the way the place is being run, adding that his request to know the state of the accounts was not because there had been any suspicious activity

“It’s not for any suspicion, but we have been asking for funding and more funding, then you want to know the status of what is happening so far. For example, I have said to you, the 1% of the Federation Account due to NASENI, we receive only the federal government component of it, instead of 1% before it’s shared to the states and others that benefit from this

“Last week, the President approved N24 billion for a smart irrigation system, on request by NASENI. So, it is his thought if our money is remitted, why ask for further funding. Just to clarify the situation, not because of any other things, to know the status. And, of course, to give him exactly, as the Chairman of the Board NASENI, he should know to the last Kobo, what do we have, what don’t we have, to guide his decisions on matters”, he said.

Further explaining what the new funding approval was all about, he said “it is for the modular irrigation system. We have acquired a 10-hectare farmland on lease in Adamawa State, using water from River Benue, where this pilot scheme is starting and it is estimated that, based on the technologies to be used there, it is possible to have three multi-crop seasons in a year, commencing from October this year, God willing.”