Vice President Kashim Shettima has commissioned over 375 tractors refurbished for mechanised farming under the National Assets Restoration Programme by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).
The commissioning took place on Sunday, June 8, at the Borno State Agricultural Mechanisation Agency, Farm Centre in Maiduguri, Borno State. Shettima described the initiative as a timely and innovative response to the challenge of underutilized and abandoned national assets.
“This initiative, the NASENI Asset Restoration Programme, is our response to a cross-generational dilemma – what to do with abandoned and poorly maintained assets owned by the nation and the people,” the vice-president said. “It represents a powerful shift in how we think about value, sustainability, and innovation. And I believe this is what we’ve promised the nation.”
He added that the programme aligns with the broader vision of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to build a productive, self-reliant, and diversified economy. “Our goal is to ease the transition into expanding the potential and productivity of Nigeria’s agricultural, industrial and creative sectors through smart investments in infrastructure, skills and innovation,” he said.
Shettima commended NASENI for stepping forward with what he described as a brilliant intervention to prevent a national tragedy. “Beyond refurbishing hardware, NASENI has shown great capacity to function as a national hub for technology transfer, home-grown engineering and adaptive innovation. That is why we must support them.”
In his special remarks, the executive governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum said the tractors being commissioned were originally procured by his predecessor, then-governor, Shettima. “He procured 1,000 tractors with full implements,” Zulum said. “That investment remains the single largest of its kind, not just in Borno State but across Nigeria.”
He acknowledged that the National Assets Restoration Programme would not have been possible without that foundational investment and expressed appreciation to NASENI for restoring the tractors without demanding payment from the state government.
In his keynote address, the executive vice-chairman of NASENI, Khalil Suleiman Halilu said the agency is demonstrating that Nigerian problems can be solved with Nigerian-engineered solutions. “We are building local capacity, developing talent pipelines, and enabling technology transfer at scale,” he said. “We are transforming NASENI into a true national enabler – quietly but boldly proving that government can deliver and that transformation is possible.”
Halilu explained that the Asset Restoration Programme was not designed as just another project to tick off. “We were responding to a serious reality: across Nigeria, from farmlands to security posts, public assets worth trillions of naira had been written off, locked away, or left to rust. Not because they couldn’t be repaired, but because there was no system in place to bring them back to life.”
According to him, a national survey revealed that over 47,000 broken but serviceable agricultural and law enforcement assets exist across the country and replacing them would cost over ₦14 trillion. “But at NASENI, we asked a simple question: why replace what we can restore?”
“With the right engineering, skilled people and strategic partnerships, we discovered we can recover these assets at just 15 to 25 per cent of their replacement cost – and restore full functionality,” he said. “That’s over ₦10 trillion in national savings, while reviving productivity, creating jobs and enhancing ground-level security.”
He thanked President Tinubu and VP Shettima for their unrelenting support, belief in NASENI’s mission and insistence on swift and bold action. He also expressed gratitude to Zulum for his leadership, noting that Borno State had now become the first hub in the national restoration network.
In his address, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari said the restoration of agricultural machinery is critical to achieving the food security objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda. He acknowledged the scale of tractor breakdowns across the country and welcomed the restoration programme as a game-changing development. Kyari praised NASENI’s Khalil for his bold vision in rebuilding and repositioning the agency as a frontline actor in national development.
Earlier, the programme coordinator of asset restore at NASENI, Engr. Mohammed Yadudu said that with technical support from the agency’s partner, Machine and Equipment Corporation Africa (MECA), the programme began in December 2024 to breathe life back into idle government assets that had long fallen into disrepair but held immense potential for the agricultural economy.
According to a statement by NASENI’s director of information, Olusegun Ayeoyenikan dignitaries present at the event included the managing director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, Engr. Jennifer Adighije; Director-general of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Dr. Mohammed Bulama; Senior special assistant to the president on special needs and equal opportunities, Hon. Mohammed Isa; Members of the Borno State Executive Council, chairman of the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer, Dr. Muhammed Dahiru; Secretary to the State Government, Malam Bukar Tijani; Borno State Commissioner of Agriculture, Engr. Bawu Musami; Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Abdulkarim Lawan; members of the National Assembly and other senior government officials.
