EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
Young innovators on Monday called on aspiring young innovators to convert their technological ideas to products that could enhance the country’s productivity and economy.
They made the call at the ongoing Technology and Innovation Exposition 2017 in Abuja.
The theme of the expo is “Science, Technology and Innovation for Nigeria’s Economic Diversification”.
The expo, which is organized by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, is expected to draw scientists, technology innovators, agriculturists, innovators from the Diaspora, investors, among other stakeholders.
Young technician Emmanuel Nnaji, who is a Senior Secondary School 2 (SSS2) student of Okporo Technical College, Imo, said that innovation was important to breeding a better society for younger inventors.
Nnaji, who designed a prototype of tipper, lorries and other tractors with some his classmates, said that youths should convert their ideas to innovations to development the country.
According to Nnaji, the prototype of the vehicles, which he made in skeletal format can be electrically connected and be manufactured to physical vehicles if provided with the materials.
He said that innovation was an idea he started developing from his Junior Secondary School One (JSS1) and had gained the support of state government.
“All the works we have can be electrically driven; all we just need is the metals and materials to produce a physical one.
“I started the innovation since my JSS1. My school was involved in a competition where we showcased our innovation and we emerged the first position.
“The state government had supported us up to the level of transporting and sponsoring us to the federal exposition,” TheNewsGuru quotes him as saying.
Nnaji, however, called on the Federal Government to identify their skills and assist them to manufacture the vehicles by providing funds and materials.
“When young inventors engage their minds positively, they can help better the technological sector of the country.
“They should focus on their ideas and believe that God will help them some day,” he said.
Another young innovator, Daniel Chilaka, an SS2 student from All Saints Modern Technical School, Imo said the government and investors needed to encourage young innovators to improve their technology.
Chilaka, who was at the exposition to showcase the process of integrated fish farming and irrigation system, said that the process would conserve water and improve plant nutrients.
He said that young people were better exposed to different technological innovations around the world with the help of the social media and internet.
According to him, it will be beneficial to the development of the country if young innovators engaged their minds and the internet positively.
Mr Ogburie Jude, a teacher in the Okporo Technical College, Imo, said that the automobile department of the school produced the prototype vehicles.
Jude noted that the demand for made in Nigerian products was gaining more awareness and it required grooming the young ones on innovations that could drive the government’s plans.
“Made in Nigeria goods are on popular demand now, people have been clamouring for that and my school has devised a means of producing locally made products.
“The products we have are made from local materials and if given the opportunity, funded, sponsored, the students who are doing this can produce the real thing,” Jude said.
He, however, said that the school was working on producing a physical car that could be driven on the road and was expecting to come up with the invention during 2018 exposition.
The expo, which started on April 3 is expected to end April 7.