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The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), in partnership with the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT), has awarded N229 million in grants to 14 female engineers.
RELATED: Nigeria pushes tech commercialisation as NASENI, PICTT launch DELTA-2 phase two
The awards were presented under the DELT-Her 2.0 initiative. They are designed to empower women to transform innovative engineering ideas into tangible solutions for national development.
From 9,925 Applications to 14 Award-Winning Projects
The second edition of the DELT-Her initiative saw a massive surge in interest, receiving 9,925 project proposals. This is a significant increase from the 120 applications in its 2024 pilot. All the 14 selected awardees will use the grant funding to advance projects in critical sectors. They include agriculture, clean energy, health, mobility, and environmental sustainability.
Leadership Vision: Gender Inclusion as a National Strategy
At the awards ceremony, NASENI’s Executive Vice Chairman, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, underscored the program’s strategic importance. “NASENI believes that gender inclusion is not charity, it is strategy,” he stated. “Every woman empowered through DELT-Her represents new capacity for the nation’s technology and manufacturing ecosystem.”
He highlighted the program’s growth, noting that it has expanded from mentoring 30 schoolgirls in 2024 to over 150 across multiple states in 2025, providing mentorship, bootcamps, and fabrication kits to inspire the next generation.
Broad-Based Governmental and Institutional Support
The initiative received strong endorsements from high-level government officials. The Chairman of PICTT, Dr. Mohammed Dahiru, commended the awardees for their “dedication, ingenuity and resilience.” The Senate President, represented by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on NASENI, reaffirmed the legislature’s commitment to indigenous production and gender inclusion in STEM, stating, “a nation that empowers its women secures its future.”
The Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Udoka, also commended the effort, aligning it with the Federal Government’s broader goals of technological independence and industrial growth.
