Peeping at the Technology and Innovation Expo 2017 in Abuja II

Peeping at the Technology and Innovation Expo 2017 in Abuja II

In the first part of this article last week, two of the questions posed were; what are the other lessons? And what are the challenges of science, technology and innovations in Nigeria? Before then, let me look at the high points of this august gathering. The first is the prizes awarded to the exhibitors who emerged as winners of the Expo 2017. These were cash prizes presented to outstanding exhibitors in the four categories of exhibition. The categories included; Research institutions, technology and Entrepreneurship, tertiary institutions‎ and Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS). In the Research institutions category Nigeria Air Force‎ (NAF) came first for their display of Aircraft management technology, engine compression and washing machine. The second position went to Nigeria Building and Research Institute (NIBRI), Abuja, for constructing a moveable house while ‎Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMDC), Abuja took the third position for producing a break pad for vehicles. In the tertiary institutions category, University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka came first, Hassan Usman Kastina Polytechnic took the second position while Covenant University, and the only private University winning award emerged in the third position. At the category of young Nigerian scientists, the first three positions attracted prizes. The first three winners of the 774 Young Nigerian Scientists Presidential Award were Mas­ter Adedipe Oluwatosin of Ekiti State who took first position, Mater Godwin Shitta emerged second while Master Babatunde Ayoola took the third position. The winner of the first position went home with princely sum of one million Naira in addition science kits, six hundred thousand and five hundred thousand Naira in addition to the set of science kits awarded to winners. Thus, the first positions in each of the four categories were awarded N1 million, while the second position and third positions were awarded N750 and third N500, respectively. However, in the JETS Category the first position was given N300,000 while the second and third positions were awarded N200,000 and third N100,000, respectively.

The second high point is the crowd pulling exhibitions; visitors thronged to admire and appreciate the achievements in science and technology of their compatriots who displayed all manners of crafts and technologies from spectacular miniature inventions/innovations to gigantic ones such as aircraft, drones and earth moving equipment. The number one attention puller was the “Amara wooden car” manufactured by Aliyu, a furniture maker from Bida, Niger State. He stole the show with his wooden car, which attracted the attention of virtually every visitor at the expo. People besieged the car and took turns to take snapshots. It was a mecca of sorts, as many could not get tired visiting and appreciating the wonderful work of a Carpenter from Bida town. The fame of the Amara car was elevated as the Minister Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, entered the car and rode to the venue of the opening ceremony. He also rode in the car after the closing ceremony back to his office, to the admiration of other ministers and the teeming crowd. Aliyu told Daily Sun, a national newspaper that his quest to build the car lasted for three years before it eventually came to fruition. He told the paper the car named after his grandfather; Amara, was his contribution to technological development in the country, stressing that there was need for government to support creative minds: “It was hardship that propelled me to begin to find a way to do something that can help me get money. I started with making furniture; I didn’t learn it anywhere. But with time, I mastered the art of furniture making; then I started researching on this car before I made it two years ago.” Aliyu confessed that the wooden car has become a source of income of some sort for him as young people in Bida pay tokens to ride it. Unfortunately, Aliyu did not make it to the list of the winners! Another crowd pulling was the Solar-powered ‘wooden’ tricycle made by a 67 years old Isiyaku Ahmed from Kano. Ahmed rode the solar-powered tricycle from Kano to Abuja to participate in the exhibition. He was quoted saying “I suffered on the road to get here, but persisted because of my interest quoted him. I have made solar-powered jeep and a big tricycle too, but I came with this one because we were asked to come with projects with not less than 70 per cent local materials.” Ahmed confessed could do many things with solar as source of energy; while appealing to government to engage the youth by providing them with skills in the area. He offered to impart the knowledge on some young people if the government gave him the necessary support to do so. On the advantages of the solar-powered jeep and tricycle, Aliyu said: “It doesn’t take fuel; no engine oil, no environmental pollution.”

The first lesson of the Expo 2017 is bringing out the talents and capabilities of Nigerians in science and technology.  Innovation could be a natural phenomenon, whose development is facilitated by many factors such as necessity, intellectual thinking and concern for development. Nigeria is blessed with these factors and thus, has the highest number of innovators in Africa as reported by many media over the years. As stated in one of my previous articles, Nigerians are naturally gifted with higher than average level of ingenuity, hard work and perseverance. When these are added to the prevailing difficult situation, the result is a multitude of innovators scattered all over the country. Can we take advantage and launch the country to a greater height in science and technology?

The second lesson is uncoordinated manner we are conducting scientific researches; there are many duplications of efforts by individuals and organizations. For instance, every person, organization is doing similar agricultural machineries – threshers, dryers, etc. Why can’t we synergize and focus in one direction until we perfect our acts?

The participation of higher institutions of learning is below my expectation considering their tremendous efforts in research and development. Every university and Polytechnic student of science and technology based programmes must undertake a research project as a mandatory condition to graduate. Considering the 100s of universities and polytechnics in the country, where are all those research projects by the graduating students and their lecturers? The truth is, most of these research works are not demand-driven but simply undertaken to earn a degree, diploma or publish in academic journal to earn promotion. Government must formulate a policy to guide conduct of research and development in all the institutions of learning and research centres. Research should be demand driven formulated from participatory problems identification.

Another lesson is a virtual absence of linkage between research centres/universities and industries. For Nigeria to move forward in technology development, there must be a strong linkage between research centres as technology generators and industries as up takers. Industries should challenge research centres/universities to find solutions to their technical problems in respect of their production while the technology generated must be tested by the industries. Tertiary institutions should involve industrial sector in designing of course and curriculum of their various programmes. There should be a compulsory provision for the students’ industrial attachment in every industry for the students to acquire experience. The current student industrial attachment should be strengthened accordingly. A policy guideline is needed in this direction.

Another lesson is the absence of concrete financial support for research and innovations in this country. A dedicated technology and innovation fund should be generated by the three tiers of government and be set aside to stimulate research activities including commercialization. There should be zero or one digit interest rate on loan from banks for the purpose of commercializing a useful and proven technology nationwide.

In conclusion, the lessons from Expo 2017 should be used to adequately address the theme of the occasion “Science, Technology and Innovation for Nigeria’s economic diversification”. The Nigeria’s economy need to be depended on many sectors; agriculture, mining, industrialization, etc and be less depended on the oil, which made us to be what we are today. It is time to act by all and sundry

Peeping at the Technology and Innovation Expo 2017 in Abuja

Peeping at the Technology and Innovation Expo 2017 in Abuja

In Nigeria, the clamor of Science, Technology and Innovation resonating our daily lives becomes a testimony of government seriousness to move the nation forward technologically. Last week, 12^th April 2017, I presented a lecture titled “The impacts of Science, Technology and Innovation: Agricultural Extension” at National Institute for Policy Strategy Studies, Kuru before the participants of Senior Executive Course number 39. Other Lectures presented by distinguished scholars and important personalities at this prestigious Institute bore the magic words “Science, Technology and Innovation”. These are clear indication that government is unearthing the reasons for the nation backwardness in technological breakthroughs. In the same vein, the way forward for achieving technological advancement could as well be identified. This is why the famous “National Science and Technology Week (NASTECH)”, a statutory annual event was changed to Technology and Innovation Expo 2017” to be inline with government policy and direction for achieving milestone in science and technology. Right from inception in 1987, NASTECH was aimed at creating awareness in Science and Technology and showcasing achievements in the sector. Thus, the Expo 2017, in addition to awareness creation, it was designed to bring out achievements in science and technology, encourages indigenous innovations and technology, promotes Research and Development (R&D) as well as build partnership between Research institutions and investors. Specifically, The Expo has seven objectives as stated in the program:

1.      Promotion of Research and Development (R&D) activities;

2.    Commercialization of R&D results/inventions and innovations;

3.    Encouraging Nigerians to take up science professions;

4.    Showcasing to the public, potentials of R&D institutions;

5.    Building of partnerships between Researchers and Investors;

6.    Encouraging and promoting creation of innovative enterprises utilizing Nigeria’s indigenous knowledge and Technology to produce marketable goods and services;

7.    Promotion of R & D/ Industry Linkages as well as encouraging net workings amongst Researchers and Investors.

The 5 days event was held at the Eagles Square, Abuja between 3rd and 7th April 2017.  The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) and the private sector were the organizers of the first innovation and technology Expo.

No doubt, the EXPO 2017 became a platform for solid foundation to build a vibrant economy; all-inclusive while Promoting Innovation and technology-led Industries. It is one of the strategic pillars of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017 – 2020, which was launched by His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday 5^th April 2017 at the State House, Abuja

The Expo served as an avenue to showcase recent developments in Research and Development efforts from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, it’s multiple Agencies, other MDAs, Higher Educational Institutions and Organized Private Sector. It also facilitated the interface with Development Partners while Exhibitors showcased their latest inventions/innovations thereby displaying their capabilities and potentials to attract collaborators and partners.

A wide variety of innovative products were on display at this gathering of who is who in Science and Technology in Nigeria. An estimated over 500 innovative products were displayed from the over one hundred exhibitors from Academia, research centres, industries and private individuals.

The exhibitions were outstanding and stupendous ranging from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (aka Drone) made by the Nigeria Air Force; to the miniature “first in the world” wooden car made by a Furniture Maker with no formal technical education whose only motivation was inquisitiveness. The exhibitors cut across ages and educational strata ranging from Primary and Secondary school students who “likes to research things”; to Professors. An example was the SS2 Students from Regina Pacis School, Abuja who invented environmentally friendly, sustainable, fuel-free Magnetic generator and Dynamo Generator prototypes – with potential to address solve the perennial power-outage bedeviling the Nigerians nationwide. Similarly, there were innovative geniuses like Adedola and Abdulbaseet, SS1 Students of Anchor Sprigfield School, Ota, Ogun State who invented a GSM-controlled electronic circuit with capability to protect appliances from power surges and could allow the owner to switch off his or her electronic appliances at home from any location in respective of distance. This is quite unbelievable!

 The event was simply a success galore that made one of the organizers, Mohammed Attah the National Coordinator of the Civil Society Organization Coalition for Made-in-Nigeria products to react as reported by NewsDiary, an online newspaper, quoting him saying “There must be priority given to supporting the innovators and exhibitors by providing them with a visible online presence to attract investors and potential customers globally. In addition, future exhibitions should be massively publicized to get more international participants to patronize the innovators and exhibitors.”

The thinking of the Federal government on the Expo 2017 is reflected from the statement of Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu who was quoted saying “the determination by the government to rebuild a Nigeria that all can be proud of cannot be actualized without deploying science and technology to move the country to a path of sufficiency and prosperity”. He further assured the participants that his ministry would not rest until science; technology and innovation become the driving force in Nigeria’s effort to diversify her economy in order to stimulate sustainable development. ThisDay, one of the Nigerian dailies quoted the minister saying “I commend the participants at this expo for showing the Nigerian spirit in them. Our hearts will never depart you because you are the future of Nigeria. We shall follow up on your inventions and mobilize the ‎organized private sector to work together with you in the pursuit of the commercialization and your inventions. The challenge we face is to rebuild our nation and move her along the path of self-sufficiency, prosperity, and international respect. I am confident that we have taken the right steps in our journey to greatness. What is required is for us to build on our achievements so far and remain determined and focused in our collective desire to build a modern Nigeria where science, technology and innovation will be the engine for economic growth and development.“

The five days program ended on Friday, 7^th April 2017 with prizes won by 12 individual participants and organizations. There were in four categories of prizes. The first category is the prize for Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS), the second for Technology Entrepreneurs, the third for Research Institutions and fourth for Tertiary Educational Institutions. The assessment team was generally impressed with the quality of works achieved in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) sector in the country. It was stressed that, if these scientists, engineers and artists were nurtured and supported, they could resolve the challenges of over-dependence on imported products and services as well as infrastructural problems confronting the country. These challenges confronting the nation’s economy addressed by the exhibited projects crisscrossed all developmental sectors; food and agriculture; education; health; security and defense; ICT and social media; power and energy; transportation; housing; manufacturing; software development; elections; values and national re-orientation. Looking at the report of the assessment team led by the former Director-General of Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Engineer Prof. Peter Onwualu, showed that at least 165 individuals and organizations participated and exhibited no fewer than 578 projects at the event.

There are many lessons that could be learnt from the concluded Expo 2017. It was very clear from the event that a missing link between the prototypes developed by the “Engineers and Scientists” and the investors existed. Either, the developers should mass-produce their inventions or the investors should come on board to help mass produce such inventions. In each case, financial support is highly desirable. The Federal Government can play an active role by improving access to finance for these innovative entrepreneurs as well as provide fiscal incentives for private investment in Research and Development to catapult the massive potential of Made-in-Nigeria products to the global market. What are the other lessons? Who were the 12 prizewinners? And what are the challenges of science, technology and innovations in Nigeria? (To be continued next week) 

Peeping at the Research and Development Centre: IAR is Perfecting Agricultural Products Development

Peeping at the Research and Development Centre: IAR is Perfecting Agricultural Products Development

Research is the key to unlocking the huge potential and bridging the productivity gaps in various commodities in the Nigerian agricultural production system. Under the auspices of the Federal Government, Nigeria has 14 commodities-based Research Institutes and four Agricultural support service providers and coordinating and supervisory body. These do not include states owned agricultural research Institutes. As part of Nigerian structure to develop agriculture, the 14 commodities based NARIs are mandated to genetically improve their mandate crops, develop their improved production, Processing and utilization technologies as well as develop preventive and curative measures against environmental hazards associated with farming system. Each of the 14 NARIs were allocated commodities, which they have comparative advantages based on their ecological locations. All the major agricultural commodities being produced in Nigeria are covered by these NARIs. Similarly, The 4 NARIs, providers of Agricultural Support Services are NAERLS Zaria, NCAM Ilorin, ARMTI Ilorin and NVRI Vom near Jos.  The major mandate of NAERLS is to provide Extension and Liaison Services, NCAM has a major of developing technologies for Mechanizing Nigerian Agriculture while ARMTI is mandated to identify managerial needs/Problems and develop appropriate interventions to address them. VOM is mandated to identify animal diseases, develop their treatment and control, and production of animal vaccines against diseases.

Agricultural product development is a technique involving production of agricultural commodity, transforming it to useful product as ready-made food for consumption or to other useful product to mankind. This technique involves stages that are related and depended on each other. The stages are production, post-harvest handling, storage, conservation, processing, marketing and utilization. The stages are not only interrelated, overlapped and interlocked but could be planned and done in a chain series. That is why they are code named “value chain” of a given commodity. In the recent past, National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) whose major mandates are improvement of crops genetic and production practices were concentrating their research activities to production with less emphasis on the postproduction processes. However, the economic downturn and the concern for economic diversification are making NARIs to give the required emphasis to processing, handling, marketing and utilization of their mandates crops. One of such NARIs is Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) located in Samaru – Zaria, Kaduna state.  

Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), one of the 14 commodities based research centre is assiduously making effort in agricultural product development. IAR is one of the research centres of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. It was established in 1922 as the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture of the defunct Northern Region, It is located on latitude 11 degree North and longitude 7 degree East, some 15kms from Zaria town and in the North-West of the Main Campus Ahmadu Bello University, Samaru. One of the Nigerian Laws transferred the Institute to Ahmadu Bello University, as a Research Institute on 4th October 1962. Initially, the Institute was assigned the responsibility of conducting research for the Northern States in conjunction with Ministry of Agricultural and Natural Resources of each state. Presently, IAR has three Research Outstations as Agricultural Research Station (ARS) located at Kano in Kano State, Kadawa, Kano State and Irrigation Research Station, Talata Mafara, Zamfara State.

By April, 1987 following the reorganization of National Research Systems in the country, IAR was mandated to conduct research on genetic improvement of sorghum, cowpea groundnut, cotton, sunflower and later maize, castor, Artemisia and jatropha. The Institute was mandated to address problems of all agricultural food crops production in the North West Agro-ecological zone. The Zone covers seven states; Jigawa, Kaduna Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States. In particular, the Institute is to address problems of farming system, adaptation of introduced and improved crop varieties/cultivars, development and testing of pest and disease control measures. Others problems assigned to the Institute were to device strategies for addressing the Socio-economic problems of agricultural production, soil fertility, soil stabilization, and irrigated crops production. Another important mandate for IAR is the design and fabrication of simple agricultural implements and equipment. Recently, IAR created a product Development Research Programme with mandates:

      i.         To determine nutritional and biological value of the IAR mandate crops,

    ii.         To assess the suitability of the crops for further industrial processing while improving the technology of local food processing

  iii.         To monitor foods and feeds produced from these crops for toxic contaminants.

The IAR mandates crops cut across cereals, grain legumes, horticultural and oil crops making them perfect for undertake the product development to conclusion. What are the breakthroughs of IAR in agricultural products development?

Some of the achievements recorded are the development of composite products and their characterization for nutritional and anti-nutritional values. The products are maize composite bread, cakes, cookies, meat-pie and Chin-chin. IAR was also able to produce these products from millet composite, sorghum composite, cassava composite, sweet potato composite and tiger nut composite.  Maize and sorghum are major cereal crops massively produced by the savanna zone of Nigeria whose production estimates are between 4 and 6 million metric tons. The crops are major sources of protein, carbohydrate, minerals and vitamins. These achievements of making bread, cakes, cookies, meat-pie and Chin-chin from maize, sweet potato, cassava, tiger nut composite flours are giant stride by IAR. Hitherto, these products were only known to be produce from wheat composite flour, which had to be imported with hard earned foreign exchange. This is a golden opportunity for agro-allied industries and local bakers to commercially produce these products for the nation. It will certainly save the country the huge foreign exchange at this period of economic recession and may even earn external revenue to the country through exportation to the neighboring countries. Still on the food products, works are ongoing in the development of peanut butter spread, peanut butter chocolate, cocoanut candy, peanut cookies, and cowpea strips among others.

Another area of focus by IAR is characterization of Nigerian jatropha for the production of biodiesel. It is one of the Institute’s research activities in the genetic improvement of jatropha for high oil content and quality for biodiesel production as well as value addition for use as seedcake to produce animal feeds. Seeds from 57 lines of jatropha germplasm were analyzed for their biofuel content as well as other physical and chemical properties, which could provide different usages of the crop. The results of the proximate analysis of 57 jatropha lines indicate that the mean percentages of ash, oil, carbohydrate, protein and fibra were 2.6, 37.6, 35.4, 16.3 and 22,1, respectively. Consequently, it could be concluded that jatropha, in addition to biofuel, has potential for making seed cake formulation because of the high protein, carbohydrate and ash content, if its toxicity can be controlled, perhaps through fermentation.

The efforts made by IAR in agricultural product development are commendable but there is need for the agro-allied industries to take the gauntlet for commercialization of the products and make them available to end-users. It is high time that the Federal government formulates a policy to compel industries to use the prototypes products developed by our research centres for commercialization. Alongside the policy, incentives could be provided to industries for using our indigenous innovations and research results that were found viable. This has numerous advantages; strengthening the research centres through patronage, increase productivity of the centres and industries, boost the nation economy and creating jobs opportunities to many Nigerians and foreigners. No doubt, IAR has demonstrated her capability to produce viability products; the ball is in the court of policy makers and industries. Will they kick it? Nigeria is tired of importing what it can produce in abundance