ASURI rejects re-appointment of ex-NASENI boss

The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also the board chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, to probe the tenure of the former executive vice chairman of the agency, Prof. M. S. Haruna. The union also rejected recommendations by the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu to President Muhammadu Buhari for the reappointment of Haruna for a fresh tenure.
The union, while holding a protest rally at the premises of NASENI in Abuja, urged the President to investigate claims of scientific breakthrough under the former EVC. Addressing journalists during the protest, ASURI Secretary General, Dr. Theophilus Ndubuaku said for instance, the former NASENI boss claimed to have developed an Unmanned Area Vehicle (UAV) as well as developed an e-voting machine. Ndubuaku said the government will be shocked to find out that some of the claims of scientific breakthroughs were not true. The ASURI boss said: “He did not develop anything.
We want to draw attention of Nigerians and government. We are calling on government to come and probe all that he said he developed during his five years tenure.” Ndubuaku also said more than one week after a new acting Executive Vice Chairman was appointed for the agency, the former EVC is yet to formally hand over. The ASURI boss said the country remains under developed due to neglect of science and research.
According to him, “the source called poverty, insecurity, is a function of under development. And the only way you can develop a country is through research. And Nigeria has all that it takes to do research.” But the acting Vice Chairman of NASENI, Engr Maje Adnan while reacting to the issues raised by ASURI, neither confirmed nor deny the allegation