NASENI DG Khalil Halilu Sat on the Boards of Companies It Paid N18 Billion and Called It Investment

Secrets Reporters

The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) did not just award contracts under Khalil Suleiman Halilu. It took equity stakes and boardroom seats in some of the very companies receiving its billions, a structure that turns the agency from a regulator of public money into a player in the deals it funds.

Machine and Equipment Corporation Africa Limited received N3.12 billion in three payments, described as a revolving fund for national assets and tractor recovery. Corporate filings list the agency itself as an officer of the company, alongside Transtropical Limited as a person with significant control and Irene Chimuanya Azubuike. When an agency sits as an officer of a company it is paying billions to, the Companies and Allied Matters Act’s related-party disclosure duties and the Public Procurement Act’s conflict-of-interest rules are directly engaged, and the arrangement falls squarely within the conduct the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 criminalises when public officers use their office for private advantage. The Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act exists precisely to bar public officers from engagements where official duty and private interest collide.

NASENI Solar Energy Limited, the agency’s own solar subsidiary, collected N4.12 billion in five payments, including N4.02 billion described as working capital. Corporate filings again list the agency among the company’s directors. The Corporate Affairs Commission shows the company as inactive, a status the agency’s own records do not explain while billions flowed.

NASENI-SPENN Limited, a joint venture in which filings show the agency holding 30 per cent against 70 per cent for Glaso Jens Bjarne, received N651.1 million as counterpart funding. Its digital-disbursement platform has a live website, but no public evidence of an operational deployment in Nigeria could be located.

NASENI-Troment Limited took N1.9 billion as an equity contribution for a pharmaceutical project. Its rapid-diagnostic-kit factory in Abuja is real and was toured by a Harvard University delegation in June 2026, which makes it the exception in this cluster rather than the rule.

Nigus Renewable Energy Limited received N1.15 billion in three payments in December 2024 as equity contributions for branded smart energy storage and electric-vehicle solutions. Filings name Ado-Ibrahim Abdulmalik with 60 per cent and Aliyu Sulaiman Dili with 40 per cent. Cense Power and Technologies Limited took N1 billion across three payments as a joint-venture contribution, with Okpala Obiora Paul holding 100 per cent.

Then there are the equity payments with nothing to show. NASENI Whitefog Agro Allied Limited received N1.11 billion, NASENI-Wholesmart Limited N759.5 million and NASBERS Green Products Nigeria Limited N500 million. No public record of these entities as NASENI joint ventures could be located anywhere. The Kano coal-fertiliser partner publicly documented is Whitefog Environmental Services Limited, a different name entirely. 

Portland Gas Limited, in which the agency took a 20 per cent equity stake worth N567.9 million, is the other verifiable success in this cluster: two CNG conversion centres in Abuja, at Utako and Kubwa, were commissioned in 2024 and 2025.

Equity contributions are not procurements, which means they do not pass through the competitive bidding the Public Procurement Act mandates for contracts. Used legitimately, they build national capacity. Used loosely, they become a channel for moving billions out of procurement oversight altogether, and the Fiscal Responsibility Act’s demand for transparent, accountable spending applies with full force either way.