Unilag engineering students seek ways to generate electricity outside national grid

In a bid to promote research and development, engineering students of the University of Lagos (Unilag) are seeking ways to generate electricity outside the national grid for rural communities.

The students are making the effort under the umbrella of University of Lagos Engineering Association.

“We want to proffer a solution to poor electricity supply. We want to see how to give electricity in rural areas a boost.

“We want to generate electricity that will be independent of the national grid,’’ Mr Mojolaoluwa Keshinro, a member of the association, said in Lagos on Wednesday.

Keshinro, a mechanical engineering student, who spoke with our correspondent, said that Nigeria was lagging behind in technology and needed to adequately fund research to encourage innovation. “The world is moving fast in terms of technology”.

“The last innovation in Nigeria was carried out by the late Prof. Ayodele Awojobi, one of the best brains produced by Unilag,’’ he said.

Keshinro also called for sponsorship of competitions that would encourage innovation.

The President of the association, Mr Olarenwaju Adejumoriola, had told our correspondent that Nigeria’s inadequate investment in research hindered it from tackling some challenges.

Adejumoriola, a final year chemical engineering student of Unilag, said that adequate funding of research would provide solutions to many of Nigeria’s problems.

“The purpose of education is to mold minds and not to look for jobs.

“This country is blessed with intelligent scholars with highly creative minds and innovative thinking. “Nigerians are some of the best brains found in many parts of the world,’’ Adejumoriola said.

“We, as engineering students, are concerned with how to think critically about issues that affect the society and work hard to proffer solutions.

“However, we are saddened by the fact that there is no adequate support from governments, especially in providing research materials and grants,’’ he said.

He appealed to governments to improve research funding.

He told our correspondent that the society recently organised a design competition for engineering students in an effort to promote advancement in technology.

The student said that the competition, tagged “Prof. Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition’’ attracted scholars from universities across the country.

“The essence of the competition is to encourage ourselves to come up with solutions that can tackle some of the challenges facing the country.

“We also staged the competition to draw the attention of governments and captains of industry to the need to support research.

Dr Gbeminiyi Sobamo, a lecturer in the department, commended Nigerian engineering students for determination to “re-write the story of technology’’ in the country.

He called for more collaboration among industry operators, governments and the academia in knowledge application for national development.