•Revolutionary electricity generator maker joins the long list of investors ignored by Nigeria
PERHAPS the most tragic of Nigeria’s many paradoxes is the way in which the country consistently fails to take advantage of the many home-grown inventors who have developed ingenious ways of tackling its pressing problems.
This can be seen in the eight-year saga of Babaetsetunokan Orighoye and his power-generating machine. Called the Unique Renewable Engine, it is capable of generating power using water or air instead of petrol, gas, coal or diesel. Able to generate power within the range of 5 KVA to 5 MWA, the PABOT Engine as it is also known, is environmentally friendly and can thus be installed almost anywhere.
In an effort to publicise his invention, Orighoye has been in touch with top politicians in Delta State since 2010, but the only assistance the state has given him has been to finance his appearance at the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology’s Technology and Innovation Exposition in Abuja in March.
There, he met the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who reportedly promised to assist him. The ministry also promised to offer grants to enable him to scale up production of the generator. So far, nothing has happened. Although he has secured a patent for his invention, serious investors are yet to come forward.
The importance of this invention cannot be underestimated. Orighoye has come up with a power generator which does not rely upon fossil fuels to work. Not only does this substantially lower the cost of producing electricity, it is environmentally friendly, and offers a completely new perspective from which to tackle Nigeria’s perennial power problems. The country’s per capita power consumption of about 151 kWh is one of the lowest in Africa, not to mention globally.
The benefits of the PABOT Engine are so obvious that it is unbelievable that nobody from government or the private sector appears to have seen it. The principles upon which it is based are so revolutionary that they could inspire a whole industry with a host of multiplier effects in employment, technology and entrepreneurship.
Similar tales of abandoned achievers abound in Nigeria. There is the tale of Kehinde Obasanjo, who invented an amphibious vehicle capable of land, sea and air transport which has been seen and lauded by former military president Ibrahim Babangida and a delegation from the United States. In spite of promises of assistance from a variety of government officials over the years, he too is yet to receive any help.
These attitudes compare unfavourably with what obtains in other climes where talented inventors can rely on adequate publicity, financing and technical assistance to achieve their goals. Secondary schools elsewhere regularly hold science fairs in which students are able to display their work; the mass media is always on the alert to publicise inventions and innovations, thus bringing them to the notice of society; angel investors are available to offer financing for cutting-edge innovations, to say nothing about urgently-needed technical fixes like the PABOT Engine.
Nigeria must accelerate the pace of invention and innovation within its shores. To attain this end, it must overhaul its research policy. Tertiary institutions and research agencies like the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO), Oshodi, and the Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, must be comprehensively rehabilitated to facilitate their contributions to research and development.
In addition to increasing their research output, they should serve as incubators for inventors like Orighoye and Obasanjo by providing them with the technical assistance that they need to refine their inventions. Financial institutions should be encouraged to provide seed money for viable research projects and link them up with prospective inventors.
Local attitudes to research and invention must also change. It is odd that musicians and athletes are hailed, whereas inventors whose contributions to social progress are arguably far greater are treated with patent disdain.