By Emmanuel Addeh
The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) have called for more collaboration between researchers and businesses to find solutions to Nigeria’s growing power challenge.
Both organisations made the call during a virtual forum for the winners of the Nigeria Prize for Science 2019; Professor Meihong Wang and Dr. Mathew Aneke, to share insight into their winning work on “Carbon Capture, Carbon Utilisation, and Biomass Gasification and Energy Storage for Power Generation”.
The forum jointly organised by the LCCI and NNLN, sponsors of the Nigeria Prize for Science, the Nigeria Prize for Literature and the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism also dwelt on safe bio-alternatives to firewood for cooking and emission of less carbon.
The Deputy President of Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Olawale Cole, in his remarks, said that the handshake between the industry players and scientists is the pathway to generating value that can turn around the narrative on the country’s development.
He added that only then can industry operators make informed decisions, noting that elsewhere collaboration between businesses and scientific research organisations have led to ground-breaking outcomes which helped in solving societal problems.
In her remarks, General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, NLNG, Mrs Eyono Fatayi-Williams , who spoke in the same vein, noted that that was the reason the company had continued to support winning works in different areas of science through the Nigeria Prize for Science.
She added that the force behind the company’s drive was its vision of “helping to build a better Nigeria”, with the deployment of brilliant ideas to solve national problems.
Also speaking, former Minister of Commerce and ex-President LCCI, Mrs Nike Akande, who lauded the efforts of the NLNG, called for more innovation and collaboration between Nigerian researchers and those in the business community.
The 2019 winning work provides solutions to the capture of carbon from the atmosphere and subsequent utilisation as well as providing alternative and safe energy for cooking and electricity.
The prize winners said that it has potential in reversing the trend of tree cutting for cooking and contributing positively to the roll-back of droughts and desertification in the country.
“The work also shows possibilities of using bioenergy for electrification” the said.
The annual prize is a $100,000 award sponsored by NLNG to promote innovations in science and technology that will solve age-long problems and drive development in Nigeria.
