The Nation Newspaper

Tag: generator

  • Generator fumes kill brothers

    two brothers, Salmanu Adamu (27) and Suleimanu Adamu (29), died on Saturday in Dimsini Bula, Bununu, Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, after inhaling generator fumes.

    The brothers are the sons of the Village Head, Adamu Sarkin Dimsini.

    It was learnt that the brothers, who were digging a well in front of their father’s palace, suffocated after inhaling fumes from a nearby generator.

    Police spokesman Mohammed Haruna said: “On Saturday about 1:30pm, the village head of Dimsini Bula in Bununu, one Adamu Sarkin Dimsini, instructed two of his sons, Salmanu and Suleimanu, to dig a well in front of his palace with a water pump generator. The victims suffocated to death due to emission of carbon monoxide from the generator, which filled the well.”

    He said an autopsy was carried out on the brothers and there was no sign of foul play.

    The bodies have been released to the family for burial.

     

  • Community gives generator to school

    The Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, has received a donation of a 350KVA power generator from indigenes of Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

    The gesture, which was from a group, the Ikole University Development Forum, was meant for the school’s Faculty of Engineering. The group’s membership cuts across 23 communities that make up the local government.

    Speaking at the university’s Faculty of Engineering, venue of the presentation, Chairman of the group’s Fund Raising Implementation Committee, Otunba Ben Oguntuase, said the gesture was aimed at complimenting the school’s efforts at securing accreditation for the faculty.

    Otunba Oguntuase said the forum’s choice of power generator arose during one of the interfaces between the forum and the university management.

    A member of the forum, Emeritus Prof Peter Adeniyi, said the nine-member Fund Raising Implementation Committee worked for over eight months to mobilise funds to get the generator.

    He said as at last July 31, about N10,215,290 had been realised. This, he considered, was quite distant from the expected 185 million target.

    According to him, prior to the visit of the university’s Accreditation Visitation panel, the Fund Raising Committee met with representatives of the university on how best to support it in readiness for the visitation. “It was agreed that a generator would be ideal, hence the choice of a power-generating set,” he said.

    While thanking all who contributed to the project, Prof Adeniyi implored those yet to align with the vision to hasten their contributions. He reminded them that the university campus at Ikole is a major socio-economic project that will have significant impact on the fortunes of their communities.

    He said all over the world communities have risen to support academic institutions by way of endowments and contributing towards their developments.

    The paramount ruler of the Ikole Kingdom, Oba Ajibade A. Fasiku,  expressed delight that the contributions yielded results, pledging his community’s readiness to support the university.

    The school’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Isaac Uzoma Asuzu, said he was impressed with the level of interest Ikole community has shown towards the development of the university. He applauded the peaceful environment created by the community for staff and students of the university, expressing optimism that the Engineering Faculty would receive the nod of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria – COREN.

    He said: “The challenge now is to prepare for the accreditation proper from both the National Universities Commission (NUC), and COREN next year. The Faculty of Engineering needed N1.8billion to equip the 40 engineering laboratories and workshops.”

    The vice chancellor pledged his team readiness to work in making the institution one of the best in the country.

  • Generator fumes: Abia promises to pay victims’ bills

    Generator fumes: Abia promises to pay victims’ bills

    Abia State government has promised to pay the hospital bills of the 15 persons, who survived Saturday’s generator fumes incident in Aba.

    The survivors are members of the Young Peoples Christian Fellowship, an inter-denominational fellowship of believers from Ututu Arochukwu. They inhaled carbon mono-oxide from the generator placed at the corridor of the church.

    Deputy Governor Emeka Ananaba visited Austine Grace and Goodness and Mercies hospitals at Okigwe and Faulks Road at the weekend to sympathise with the victims.

    It was learnt that the deputy governor, who was touched by the victims’ health condition, through the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Okechukwu Ogah, sent an undisclosed amount of money to the doctors to start treatment.

    Of the 15 survivors (nine women and six men), 11 are hospitalised at Austine Grace Hospital and four are at Goodness and Mercies Hospital.

    The doctors said the victims were responding to treatment, adding that they would survive the suffocation. At press time, a five- year old boy, whose parents were said to be unconscious, was confirmed dead.

    Aba residents have hailed the police and the management of the hospitals for their prompt action.

  • Couple, sister, unborn child die in generator fumes

    It was only three months ago that Victor Oluluwe and Precious became husband and wife.

    But by yesterday morning, the couple were dead, killed by fume from a power generating set just bought by them.

    A 10 year old girl living, Nneka, with them also died from the inhaled fume at their Chukwu Street, Elekahia, Port Harcourt residence.

    The lone survivor, identified as Sopuruchi, is receiving treatment in hospital.

    The landlord of the couple, Mr. Chikeson Chukwu, told The Nation that the couple were found dead yesterday morning.

    Neighbours had noticed at about 9am that they were unusually late in emerging from their apartment at that time of the day and proceeded to knock on their door.

    When there was no response, the door was opened only to find Victor and the pregnant Precious stiff dead.

    Nneka (10) and Sopuruchi were said to be unconscious and were rushed to the hospital.

    Nneka later died.

    Mr. Chukwu said little Nneka might not have died if she had been given prompt attention at the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH).

    The landlord said: “This couple were just three months old in my house. They were newly wedded and had no child yet. At about five minutes past nine this morning (yesterday) one of my tenants called me and said they had discovered that the new tenant and his family were dead.

  • Oyakhilome endows hall, donate generator to alma mater

    •VC: first huge  donation by  an individual

    Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State enjoyed its first huge endowment last week when Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, President of Believers’ Love World (Christ Embassy), handed over the keys to a 650-capacity ultra-modern auditorium and a 100 KVA sound proof generator to Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

    The Acting Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Cordelia Agbebaku, said it marked the first time an individual would donate such an “edifice to the university since its inception”.

    Oyakhilome, an alumnus of AAU, said he was encouraged to undertake the project by the determination of the leadership of the university to provide for the needs of the students.

    He said: “It is to use this as the first phase and to serve as a catalyst for others to join hands in developing the country. The problem is not the management of our natural resources but managing the potentials locked up in the minds of our teeming youths whose education cannot be separated from the aspiration of the country.”

    Oyakhilome sought permission from Governor Oshiomhole to “provide solar-powered lantern to each student resident in the campus and solar-powered street lightings.”

    He praised the governor for his developmental strides in the state, saying such will galvanise others to strife for more.

    Responding, Oshiomhole commended the pastor for his “vision and commitment,” describing him as a global icon.

    “Pastor Chris is not just a good ambassador of the university, but of the state and the entire country. We are here, not only to commission a building but to attest that by his conduct, he is giving to others,” he said.

    Agbebaku said she was not surprised by the gift, giving Oyakhilome’s antecedents.

    “This is not surprising because the donor as a man of God, knows the importance of being a cheerful giver, aside from being an alumnus of this university,” she said.

    Agbebaku also expressed gratitude to governor Oshiomhole whose support, she said has continued to spur development in the university. She also praised the release of N300 million by the governor out of the N500 million he promised to give to the university in late 2013.

  • School gets N3.5m to produce urine generator

    School gets N3.5m to produce urine generator

    Doregos Private Academy, Ipaja has got assistance from the Bank of Industry [BOI] to develop its urine-powered generator.

    They were promised the sum of N3.5m by the BOI after winning the Dragon’s Den competition organised to mark the 20th anniversary of Oxbridge Tutorial College, in Ikeja, Lagos.

    Dragon’s Den is a business entrepreneurship competition aimed at igniting the entrepreneurial spirit in young people. The participants present business ideas to a panel of judges (Dragons) – made up of business professionals with the hope of getting sponsorship.

    Represented by Adebola Duro-Aina, Eniola Bello, Oluwatoyin Faleke, and Omotola Adewale, Doregos Private Academy beat Queensland Academy, Okota, Lagos Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School, Surulere, Igbobi College, Yaba, and the host school to emerge winner.

    They presented a urine-powered generator which they said would reduce carbon monoxide-related deaths if it replaces the petrol generator. Carbon monoxide is emitted from generators that use petrol.

    The pupils told the judges that the generator is inexpensive to produce and run. They said a litre of urine can last six hours.

    Adebola toldThe Nation afterwards that she was happy about the victory and the promised assistance to help them produce more generators.

    She added that some professors are conducting research to make their work better.

    Igbobi College came second with their bread production business idea.

    The school’s team, comprising Ukamadu Nelson, Agwui Samuel, Chigbu Bethel and Uyi Ebueku, said through their bread business, they can reduce unemployment in Nigeria.

    They gave an example of their school and King’s College, where pupils consume over 7,200 loafs of bread in a month and requested for N5, 000, 000 to run the business and deliver profits to the dragons within five years.

    The Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School came third with its catfish farming business, while Oxbridge’s waste management idea was adjudged fourth best. Queensland’s adire business placed fifth.

    While announcing the results, Mr Adetokunbo Akinsola of BOI praised Doregos for innovative and affordable project. He said distributing their plans to the judges also gave them an edge over others.

  • Anti-solar conspiracy; ‘Solar Generation’ must replace ‘Generator Generation’

    As there a conspiracy against solar energy – another energy conspiracy like the generator conspiracy? How else do we explain that Nigeria with 85-100% sun days has no solar farms while the UK with 20% pathetic sun days per annum has 157 solar farms and 229 awaiting approval not including roof-top millions of mini-solar plants? The UK expects solar enterprise to deliver 20GigaWatts of power by 2020. Africa has no such plans. A small physics lesson: 1,000watts =1Kilowatt; 1,000 kilowatts or 1,000,000 watts=1Megawatt; 1,000Mw=1Gigawatt=1,000,000,000watts or 1billion watts.  Nigeria@52+ makes 3- 4,200Mw.  Africa needs visionary ‘Mr. Solar President’ Leadership.

    Has any African engineer, politician or professor visited a solar farm in Spain, Israel, UAE, UK or USA? Why is this failure to commit to new technologies allowed when our electricity powerless Africa has a mega-sun stroking our land and Nigeria has epileptic 3-4,000Mw after billions of dollars? Why are Africa and Nigeria still holding ‘talk-shop’ conferences on ‘solar energy as a way forward’ but giving mega-contracts for imported turbines for 50 year-old power plants using non-renewable energy, instead of creating the long overdue ‘New African/Nigerian Solar Generation’ to replace us- the ‘Generator Generation’?

    Is our leadership blinded by the government-allocated perks of office – the 24-hour generator and vehicles with anti-sun tinted windows?  The leadership should recognise the technological and moral value of taking Africa and Nigeria solar before God relocates the sun to those who value it more? ‘God gives and takes away’. God can take away the sun if we misuse it as much as we have misused that other energy gift from God, petroleum. Imagine solar energy being provided to Africa by underground cable from the UK, Spain, Israel, UAE or USA. The sun shines on everyone. Why cannot we grasp the future? Nigeria gives citizens 12 watts of average power per person. South Africa gives 457, Zimbabwe 113, Zambia 61 and Ghana 29. Will Nigeria ever become ‘solar wise’? Since Africa is technologically challenged, why do we not turn to the gloriously powerful sun? Tell the AU, ECOWAS, governments and the private sector to get power from the sun, everyone!

    Solar energy is to electricity what the cell phone was to communications –a great leap forward, cutting out the PHCN men. It will not get better with the new power companies who will overcharge. The sun is being underutilised by Nigerians, individual, government and the private sector, who are victims of a conspiracy against the spread of solar energy. Are the conspirators forcing government to use high tariffs and taxes on solar imports? Are oil marketers afraid of losses from reducing patronage and generator companies for the same reason?

    Nigerian authorities are afraid of committing ‘big’ to the new technology which is not new at all and has been around since the dawn of time and has been largely ignored, to our loss, except for sun drying clothes and food items. Nigeria started with the sun and then went underground to coal and petroleum. Now we must come up to the surface again and harness the sun. It has already been done so there is no point Nigeria’s NUC giving ABU N10m to research solar energy as was done some years ago. It is on international record that the prices of solar panels and rechargeable batteries have fallen by over 80% making solar energy affordable. Why is cheap solar equipment not available in Africa? Conspiracy! Entire cities are run by solar abroad. Africa, wake up before they steal the sun and sell it back to your children in a bottle!

    The UK offers government subsidies to families and companies to purchase solar equipment. Such subsidies are not available in Nigeria and denied to Nigerian ‘Sun Energy Seekers’. CBN gives N10b to ABU and billions in rescue money to banks while the federal government gives $200m to Nollywood and billions to textile manufacturers. Few economists have calculated that a large chunk of this financial support will be spent on generators and fuel.  Every Nigerian and every economist knows that the mantra for survival in family, and business is ‘Get Electric Power Right And All Will Be Added’.

    It is not too late for government to target solar power by increasing grants, solar loan portfolios, reducing interest rates on loans, longer term loans to increase solar power use and reduce pressure on the new power grid roadmap. We do not want another talk shop, no actionless ‘Solar Energy Conference’.

    If the current government fails to take solar seriously will the new party? Will the APC, vaguely promising 40,000Mw in four or eight years, rethink and embrace a serious manifesto ‘Solar Power Roadmap’? The powerful people, rich with money obtained from the murky waters of Nigerian commerce and politics, want dependent citizens. Solar energy in the home frees the owner from the grid and solar farms can also supply the grid. Solar is a generator without pollution.

    There are a few African solar projects. Solar energy empowers and reduces poverty –not the goal of Africa’s powerful governments. It is the goal of the poor and their NGOs, seemingly powerless to change government ‘secret plans’. The world must get the poor vote to matter in politics. The voice of the people is the voice of God. We want solar energy today or will make it a 2015 election issue! Fight the ‘Anti-Solar Conspiracy’. Who is afraid of solar powering Africa and Nigeria?

  • Bank donates generator to faculty

    To make learning easier for students on campus, FirstBank Nigeria Plc has donated a generator to the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

    The donation was made possible through the efforts of Prof Omololu Soyombo, the Dean of the faculty.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the don had a partnership with the bank before he became the head of the faculty.

    While receiving the generating set, Shoyombo thanked the bank’s Managing Director, Mr Bisi Onasanya, for fast-tracking the faculty’s request.

    He said: “The generator will enhance academic excellence and bring better output from the students of the institution.”

    The generator was dedicated to the use of the faculty by representatives of the bank. At the presentation were the sub-Dean, Dr Kemi Lawanson, head of Psychology department, Dr Agiobu Ibinabo, Faculty Officer, Mrs Ebun Godfrey, and Dr Seye Ajuwon, a lecturer.