The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure through the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer has awarded a N70.5 million grant to six female engineers.

This is contained in a statement by NASENI’s Director of Information, Olusegun Ayeoyenikan, on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mr Ayeoyenikan said the grants were awarded to the six winners under the Developing Engineering Leaders Through Her (DELT-Her) project, with a call for proposals launched as part of NASENI’s Delta-2 programme.

He recalled that on March 8, the agency introduced the DELT-Her project aimed at addressing gender imbalance in the engineering and technology-based businesses in Nigeria.

The Executive Vice-Chairman of NASENI, Khalil Halilu, represented by the Coordinating Director of the Planning and Business Development Directorate, Dr Nonyem Onyechi, noted that the DELT-Her initiative sought to empower young women in engineering and technology.

He stressed the importance of providing women with necessary tools, platforms, and support to excel in the fields that had traditionally been male-dominated.

Mr Halilu said, “I encourage the awardees to see their success as a beacon for others and a commitment to fostering environments where women can thrive in engineering and technology.’’

Chairman of PICTT, Dr Mohammed Dahiru, said that after evaluating over 120 applications, six innovative projects were selected for funding, with each receiving grants, technical support, and partner connections for commercialisation.

Mr Dahiru added that some of the awardees had also been selected to participate in the upcoming AFRI Lab Annual Gathering in Cape Town, South Africa, based on their projects.

The grant recipients, with their projects, included Rukkaya Abdulmutalib, ‘Artificial Intelligence Censored Machine to Monitor Soil Health for Green-Houses (N3 million) and Patience Ibrahim-Janda, ‘Automobile Brake Pads produced from Organic Waste (N10 million).

Others were Amina Khaleel, ‘Drone for Intelligent Real-time Security and Target Tracking’ (N17.5 million) and Kudirat Jimoh, ‘Electronic Training Board/Device for Science and Engineering Students’ (N16.5 million).

There were also Ikechukwu Francisca, ‘Automatic Bambara Flour Processing Machine’ (N8.5 million) and Abisola Olayiwola ‘Solar-powered Snail Shelling Machine’ (N15 million).

(NAN)