Bart Nnaji:I Always Rush to My Village to Relax, Enjoy Real Life

At 70, Prof. Bart Nnaji has little left to prove. Globally celebrated as a robotic engineer, artificial intelligence pioneer and Chairman of Geometric Power Group, he has spent decades pushing the frontiers of science, engineering and Nigeria’s power sector. Yet, behind the remarkable achievements and boardroom accomplishments is a man who treasures life’s simple pleasures. Despite his international acclaim, Nnaji says his greatest moments of relaxation are spent in his village, where he reconnects with friends, shares stories and enjoys the warmth of community life. In this interview, he reflects on what sparked his early fascination with artificial intelligence over four decades ago, the sacrifices success has demanded, his vision for technology and electricity in Nigeria, and the legacy he hopes to leave behind. Dike Onwuamaeze brings the excerpt:

Let us talk about you at 70. How does it feel like to be 70?

I did not think that I would live past 60 when I went to America as a teenager. I was telling a friend that I expected to die at about 60 because I thought that 60 was too old. I could not imagine people being 60 and still wanting to be around. So, when I turned 60, I was laughing at myself and said “look at you, you have not started.” So, I went past 60 and here I am at 70. Now, I no longer look at life that way. I have a company (Geometric Power) that is just getting to work the way it is supposed to work. So, 70 is just a number or something like that. As long as my brain is still working and I am still able to move around, which God has been very kind, I must continue to work on that project with those who are associated with the project and me. But gas is the main problem. If we have gas, we have reliable electricity. No gas, no reliable electricity. Just a simple arithmetic. Not even arithmetic but simple intuitive fact.

You went into studying Artificial Intelligence about 40 years ago. What gave you the insight to make that move?

I was fascinated by robots. And I kept thinking deeper and deeper and deeper about how the robot could work. The main thing about how it will work is the brain of the robot because you have to give it the capacity to think, to see things. I am usually hesitant talking about thinking for a machine because there are so many things about what we do in terms of reasoning and perception, which a machine cannot have now but will gradually. Things like being able to read someone’s face to know whether this person is happy about what I am talking or not. What we concentrated on at the beginning, that was my fascination with the robots, is how does a robot actually do simple tasks? The work of robotic engineers at that time was about the hand of the robot. If you look at your hand, there are three basic movements. We call it “roll, pitch, yore” (RPY). We had to break this RPY to mathematical definition to how it should work. So everything boils down to mathematics before you begin to talk about the dynamics. So, the point is that AI is a whole lot of mathematics. They tell you that they have an algorithm. But what is algorithm? It is whole bunch of mathematics that are logical and made to work. And we spent a whole lot of time building that stuff and my lab was all about it.

But what does it mean combining all these scientific experiments and academic attainments with family life?

I think that a scientist must live with human beings and the best human beings to live with should start with your own people. 

What has success made you lose?

It is that the freedom one used to have is no longer available. No matter what I am a natural person and not somebody who puts up his nose at people. I think that there are those who, if they have risen to a certain level, begin to look down on people and like to separate themselves from others. I think that I am the opposite of that. I like to be with normal human beings. That is where life really is. That is why I always rush to my village to be with my village people. So that we can drink and gist and enjoy real life. To me that is a real life. It is not a boardroom thing. But I cannot just walk this street now. It is that kind of thing that they say “just mind what you wish for because you may get it.” I do not think that I will wish that but it just came by the virtue of some of the things that I have done.

What is your vision for the next 10 years?

I will like to see that we continue to improve our power installation capacity and distribution capacity and the quality of power that we deliver because reliability is very important. I want to see us have power in the way it is generated and delivered in Western countries. I have license to build Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and we are going to build it in Umuede and I am building a technology university if we succeed in getting approvals from the Nigeria University Commission. These are some of the things I like to be doing.

What will you like to be remembered for?

It could be that I will be remembered for having made contributions towards improving our quest for better electricity in Nigeria and for supporting technology advancement in this country.

Is your earlier assertion about gas limited to your Aba Power Plant alone?

Every gas fired power plant in the world works that way.

But we have abundance of gas in the country? So, why has the government not used the resources we have to energise the power sector?

Government over the decades has not done what it is supposed to do to ensure that gas is really available in Nigeria. You might have heard that Nigeria is more of a gas country than an oil country. It is a fact. A lot of gas we have now come from associated gas. But we have non-associated gas fields as well and we have plenty of that like in the Anambra Basin here; there is gas in Ugwuoba (in Enugu State). But the non-associated gas is not being harvested. So, there are two things that we need to have that government should provide. One is investments to mine the gas. The second is investment to transport the gas. Because there is no transportation infrastructure, which actually should be provided by the government, we have limit on where the gas is mined. So, those who are able to invest in gas transportation infrastructure to take gas to where it is processed are the ones that have what is working. Otherwise, it is just not there and it is a very terrible situation in the country. What I am saying is that government should provide gas transportation infrastructure. And it has not done enough or nearly enough to transport the gas.

Are you talking about gas pipelines?

Yes!

What about the country’s gas master plan? Does it cover the South-east?

Not adequately. Because in the gas master plan there is supposed to be a major trunk line that runs from South-south through the South-east to the North. Then there is one that should go to the West passing through the Niger Delta. There is a line actually to the West. There is another line that goes from Delta to Edo to the North pass to Ajeokuta. There is a convergence going to the North. They are not all completed. That is an issue. So, we have a challenge with gas transportation system. For me having gas in Aba requires both capacity to get the gas and transportation for it. We have got a 27 kilometre gas pipeline from a major gas processing station in Owaza, Ukwa West Local Government, which is around the Imo River to our power plant in Osisioma. We own that pipeline. We are the first in Nigeria as a power company to build such a gas pipeline. So, gas is a big issue in Nigeria.

With the removal of electricity from the exclusive legislative list, are you working with state governments in the South-east to see if they will get involved in building the pipelines and to exploit the gas resources in the region?

Yes, there is an Act by the National Assembly to have the entire electricity value chain in the concurrent legislative list. But it does not solve anything because what is required to build a power infrastructure is enormous. What we built in Aba is more than $800 million for nine local governments out of 17 local governments in Abia State. Yes, we built it to also provide electricity if need be, and it is possible, for the entire Abia State and perhaps even more. But the problem is that when you look at other states, including Abia State, that investment is not made by the government. It is by the private sector. Government supported it by enabling payments, being a partner in progress. And that partnership in progress has continued from government to government. But when you look at the quantum of funds required to build a power plant you will see that there are only two state governments that have built power plants in Nigeria.

These are Rivers State and Akwa Ibom State because they have so much money. But people should know that government is not a good runner of business. And it showed because even though Rivers State built power plants it could not run them and had to sell them. Akwa Ibom built power plant many years ago but it still was not able to run it. You see, it is not just building power plants with turbines. There are so many things around the plant that must be available and working. For example, the evacuation infrastructure should be there and correct and should be the type. All the balance of plant should be there, and be proper and working. Then a good evacuation infrastructure because power is an instantaneous product that cannot be stored. So when you produce power it has to get used immediately.

The state governments do not have the resources to begin to build power plants. So, they have to partner with the private sector. If you think about it, a private company that has a proper plan and the integrity to do it can borrow money from international banks. But a state government may not be able to do that kind of borrowing because it will require an intermediary which is normally a private company to work with to do it. The state governments in Nigeria do not have the ability to provide sub-sovereign support which is a certain level of credit to get any bank out there or investors to provide the sort of required guarantee. But it is possible that states joined together might be able to do it. But will they want to work together? Are they working together? That is the problem!

Can’t governments in the South-east work together through the South East Development Commission to execute this kind of projects?

They can. But let them do it and let us see.

Is there a way the state governments and the SEDC can forge a partnership that will allow Geometric Power to service even the entire South-east?

There was a speech which Governor Alex Otti of Abia State gave to the SEDC recently that centred on exactly what you are saying. Otti was telling his fellow governors to stop wanting to build their own power plants and come to partner with the Geometric Power to provide the power. The fact of the matter is that we have power plant and we can provide power to more than just Abia State. And we have the capacity to expand power that can serve the entire South-east. 

How is the appropriate gas pricing affecting your operation?

There is a domestic gas price set by the government which is helping even though it is in Dollars. It is helping and Geometric Power is one of the GENCOs that is allowed to buy gas at the domestic gas price. It helps. But you have to have that gas first.