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Image of
open human head with various objects belongs to IPOwatchdog.com
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By Kenneth Nwachinemelu
David-Okafor
Welcome to the eighth installment of this
serialized post.
THANK YOU FOR STAYING THE COURSE WITH US FOR THIS
LONG. I wish to thank all of you for your support in every way. This has
definitely transformed into one of the most exciting projects ever undertaken
on NAIJAGRAPHITTI BLOG.
This serialized post has really helped me to
realize one of my aspirations to put relevant, verified and accessible knowledge/information
within reach of aspiring young (and why not old, so long as they are visionary)
entrepreneurs, prospective innovators, professionals and hobbyists, to bridge a
yawning gap.
What I discovered was an information black hole
in the aspect of inventive thinking and related practical activities as far as
invention/inventiveness was concerned in Nigeria. Of course there were patches
of tit bits strewn all over.
In this installment I now wish to dwell on another
crucial area ¾ getting competent technical
and professional support for your inventive undertaking. Requisite and timely competent
technical and professional support can make all the difference in the world.
I would share the news reports three sets of young
inventors, one of Emmanuel Okekunle from Nigeria, two, a set of 10 successful applicants selected from 369 young Nigerian inventors in ICT who were selected to attend 2016 GITEX in Dubai, UAE and three, Olivia
Hallisey from America, to drive my point home with a multi-dimensional mental
picture.
The first news report was splashed across the
national media by several Nigerian news publications in February 2014:
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Emmanuel
Okekunle, 22, a Senior Secondary School graduate who designed a
helicopter when was in JSS1
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The
Young Inventor Who Designed A Helicopter In JSS1
Emmanuel
Okekunle is a 22-year-old senior secondary school graduate and an aspiring
inventor who says Nigerian youths could do more if the Government provided
adequate support.
He
graduated from Cherubim and Seraphim College, Jos, Plateau State, in 2010. At
the age of 5, he became interested in designing and constructing things
and constructed a wheelbarrow to help him carry up to five litres of water.
At
7, he started developing electric toy cars using motors, batteries and
tomato tins. In JSS1, he designed a toy helicopter.
In
SS2, encouraged by a teacher who told his students their inventions could
secure them a scholarship, he constructed a rechargeable lamp, fan, emergency
alarm, electric waste bin that converts waste to ashes, and an aquarium, among
other things. He sees his ability to design things as a natural talent from
God.
At
first, he says, his parents did not appreciate what he was doing, as he would
bring all kinds of ‘useful’ garbage home.
However,
when they saw their son’s achievements, they began to encourage and support
him. Okekunle says he has been applying to various higher education
institutions since graduation from school, but is yet to be lucky.
This
year, he will once again write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination
(UTME) and hopes to secure admission. After he left school, he went to the
state Ministry of Science and Technology to show his innovations, but did not
get any support.
Then,
he went to NTA, Jos, which gave publicity to his inventions via national
network. The Plateau State Chapter of the Nigerian Society of Engineers
invited him to see his works.
However,
they merely advised to try and improve the finishing on his works. He was not
discouraged and went to NTA science exhibition. He worked on a methane digester
and was able to use it to produce bio-gas.
He
represented Plateau State in Abuja at a science and technology exhibition with
his apparatus.
Currently,
he is working on an electronic device for mitigating the effect of HIV/AIDS and
is optimistic about his invention. He says young aspiring inventors like him
need support to increase their knowledge and improve capabilities. Young people
give up due to lack of encouragement from the Government and other agencies.
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| Emmanuel Okekunle has worked on other inventions |
The News Agency of Nigeria reported the second
news story in May 2016:
ICT: 369 Nigerian Inventors Apply To
Participate In 2016 GITEX Context In Dubai – NITDA
The National Information Technology Development
Agency (NITDA) says 369 young Nigerian inventors have applied to participate in
the 2016 Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mrs Hadiza Umar, the NITDA’s Head of Corporate
Affairs, made this known on Wednesday in an interview with journalists in
Abuja.
Umar said that out of the 369 applicants from
Nigeria, the first 10 shortlisted by the organizers would be sponsored by the
agency for the exhibition in October.
“Application for participation in GITEX 2016 closed on May 19 and we received 369 entries from Nigerians at home and the Diaspora, while the first 10 applicants will go and represent the country at the exhibition.
“All participants were asked to send in the
software or hardware created by them, and stating the uniqueness and relevance
of such innovations.
“The exhibition is to showcase world class Information and Communication Technology (ICT), innovations of talented young graduates around the world.
“The best GITEX innovator is to get US$1 million, while every participant stands the chance of connecting with major stakeholders in ICT around the world,” she said.
Umar added that the list of shortlisted applicants
would soon be compiled and made available to the public.
The NITDA official said applications were received
from Nigerians at home and the Diaspora, including Ethiopia, Cameroon, Uganda,
Chad, Botswana, UK, Sierra Leone and Ghana.
The application for NITDA sponsorship to the
exhibition was opened on May 7 and closed May 19, while the exhibition will
take place from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20, in Dubai, UAE.
“For the 2016 GITEX, NITDA has arranged a stand
for will be all Nigerian innovators at the exhibition, unlike last year when
our 12 young innovators showcased their talent alongside others at Nigerian
pavilion.
“One of the NITDA sponsored-participants in 2015
GITEX has already been partnering with international organization as a result
of his unique innovation.
“The agency works round the year to develop Nigerian ICT sector, through sponsorship and organizing events that help to add value to participants,” she said.
The image maker said that NITDA played critical
role in the development of ICT in Nigeria through various programmes such as
scholarship for postgraduate degrees in ICT or related courses and Community
Access Centre (CAC).
Other interventions of NITDA in ICT development in
the country include Knowledge Access Venue (KAV), Graduate Internship Scheme
(GIS), among others.
“We provide one year Masters’ scholarship or PhD scholarship for two outstanding graduates in ICT or related courses from each state of the country with minimum of 2.1 CGP (for Masters).
“The CAC is the provision of ICT centres by NITDA,
for rural communities where access to internet service is a serious challenge.
“We presently have over 400 centres across the six
geo-political zones where we provide 15 laptops, internet broadband, inverter,
solar power, photocopiers and scanners.
“This is usually done in collaboration with the
traditional ruler in the community or local government administrations who
provide the space,” she said.
On the KAV, Umar said NITDA had provided over 290 centres at various tertiary institutions in the country, where students could access internet services on the computers provided.
“Our GIS is another deliberate effort of the
present administration to bridge the gap of ICT experts in the country and we
have started training of 600 graduates in ICT skills yearly.
“NITDA, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry
of Finance on May 13 in Lagos started the training of 100 graduates from the
South-West origin.
“This will be replicated in all the six
geo-political zones in the country, which will amount to training of 600
graduates to be self-employed, employers of labour and ICT experts of world
class each year.
“The programme includes training at designated
centres and internship at relevant organizations where interns can sharpen
their skills and become competent.
“They (interns) will also be given stipend during the training and will be issued certificate of competence upon satisfactory completion of the programme,” she said.
However, Umar said that interested applicants can
only apply for slots in their state of origin, saying the programme aimed at
creating more ICT experts across the geo-political zones.
GITEX is an annual exhibition in Dubai, where ICT
inventors, operators and users gather to showcase their inventions and rob
minds on latest ICT inventions and products.
ICT presently contributes 11.93 per cent of
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and is also the fastest growing
sector.
Dr
Vincent Olatunji, the Acting Director General of the agency had said NITDA
would be a prime catalyst in transforming the nation into IT driven economy.
(NAN)
The third news report is from an international American
news publication in September, 2015:
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| Google Science Fair Grand winner Olivia Hallisey- she developed a cheap rapid #Ebola test @googlescifair (Image credit: Daniel Kraft, MD @daniel_kraft Sep 21) |
16 Year-Old Teen Invents World’s
Fastest Ebola Test, Grabs Google Science Prize
A 16-year old teenager from Connecticut, United
States has invented an express test to detect the deadly Ebola virus in just 30
minutes at a cost of US$25. Olivia Hallisey’s breakthrough grabbed the top
prize at the Google Science Fair.
Hallisey, a sophomore at Greenwich High School,
has come up with what she called a “novel, temperature-independent, rapid,
simple and inexpensive Ebola detection platform.”
“Current methods of Ebola detection utilize
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (“ELISA”) detection kits which cost
approximately US$1,00 each, require complex instrumentation, trained medical
professionals to administer, and up to 12 hours from testing to diagnosis. The
kits require the unbroken refrigeration of reagents from point of manufacture
to point of use (the “cold chain”), making the ability to diagnose in remote
areas, where refrigeration is often nonexistent or unreliable, highly
problematic if not impossible,” Hallisey explained on her project’s website.
Unlike current Ebola detection methods, Hallisey’s
test takes only half an hour to show the Ebola virus and does not require any
refrigeration. While Olivia’s method is 25 times more expensive – US$25 per
test – it is also 24 times faster than the tests currently available. When it
comes to Ebola, minutes do matter.
“It is estimated with early diagnosis and medical
treatment, Ebola fatality rates of up to 90% would decline by approximately 50
percent,” the teenager said.
Olivia used silk fibers, which possess stabilizing
properties, and current Ebola ELISA reagents, taking all of the same components
of a regular Ebola test – antibodies and chemicals that cause the test to
change colors if Ebola proteins are present in a patient’s blood.
Hallisey used the silk-stabilized chemicals to
“construct a four-channel, paper-based, fluidic detection card,” where reagents
would react with a patient’s Ebola antigens. It requires only a serum sample
and water to work.
“In this new device, that is stable and stored at
room temperature, 30µl drops of water were used to dissolve silk-embedded
reagents, initiating a timed-flow towards a center detection zone, where a
positive (colored) result confirmed the presence of 500pg/ml Ebola(+)control
antigens,” Hallisey wrote.
In order to confirm that her test is capable of
sustaining high temperatures, Hallisey tested the Ebola ELISA “in a
96-wellplate format (A450nm) at 0-7 days from initial mixing and dilutions.”
On Tuesday, Hallisey was awarded with a US$50,000
scholarship for her breakthrough as a prize at Google’s annual Science Fair, an
online competition for children between the ages of 13 and 18.
The Connecticut teenager was one of 22 young
scientists from around the world who were showing off their scientific
projects.
I will not lead you to any conclusions; I need
you to reflect on what you have gleaned from these news stories.
Though I desire that you to read in between the
lines I will leave you to draw your own inferences from the two news stories.
Afterwards answer the following question: Who among the three sets of young
inventors have had the more requisite and timely support?
Now let me throw in the shock factor! (This is
the only clue I would supply here.)
You do not need prophetic skills to predict that Olivia
Hallisey, with the exception of a catastrophic self-destruct or wicked
precipitation of an unforeseen circumstance, would be able to complete high
quality education, even in an expensive American university, with the gift of US$50,000
scholarship (it was not a pledge, she received the cheque in full public glare)
while the gaggle of 10 successful applicants selected from 369 young Nigerian inventors in ICT who applied to participate in
the 2016 Gulf Information Technology Exhibition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
would perhaps be very fortunate to get their flight ticket and visas paid for
by the Nigerian government.
As for Okekunle and the 10 successful applicants
selected from 369 young Nigerian inventors in ICT, they have certainly
disappeared into the anonymity of Nigerian invention lores as their feats are
filed away on dusty shelves of forgetful officialdom and marooned in the mire
of not belonging to the right network.
In sum, information about all of the Nigerian
inventors mentioned here would require tracing through third parties who may or
may not have their forwarding address, in case you want to cross-check their
stories. However the story of Olivia Hallisey is accessible via the website on
her invention.
I dream that one day, in Nigeria, in my lifetime,
Emmanuel Okekunle and 10 successful applicants selected from 369 young Nigerian
inventors in ICT would thrive in a culture that can routinely present a robust
culture in inventing activities as well as opportunities just like Olivia
Hallisey got, and even better.
In the meantime the field project we hope to
undertake would be to uncover value from the National Information Technology
Development Agency funded Community Access Centres.
NAIJAGRAPHITTI BLOG will attempt to determine
people and their inventions which have emanated from the Community Access Centres
of which NITDA claims that there are over 400 centres across the six
geo-political zones of the country where equipment provided comprise 15
laptops, internet broadband, inverter, solar power, photocopiers and scanners.
Yet in order to end on a positive note as always,
I must tell you of the support which two young Nigerian innovators, Femi
Adeyemo, and Kunle Odebunmi, (and their firm called Anergy) who have recently broken
fresh frontiers in the renewable energy sector received along the way.
INFORMATION IS, INDEED, A GAME-CHANGER.
Aha, now exciting things are beginning to happen
in Nigeria... sorry to make you wait for the details of Anergy breakthrough in the
next installment!
Just for information purposes, faster Ebola tests than that which Olivia Hallisey invented have now been approved by the World Health Organization. See here
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