Nigerian varsities: Impressive first global outing

Students from the Universities of Lagos and Benin made the nation proud at this year’s edition of the Shell Eco-Marathon, held last week in the Netherlands. EMEKA ANUFORO, who witnessed it all, reports.
AGAINST all odds, Nigerian university students have convinced the outside world that they, too, could achieve outstanding feats, given the right atmosphere.
Engineering students from the Universities of Lagos (UNILAG) and Benin (UNIBEN) gave an impressive account of their abilities at the just concluded Shell Eco-Marathon, held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, when the two cars they built from the scratch, Tuke Tuke (by UNIBEN students) and AUTONOV II (by UNILAG students), scaled critical tests and competed with other cars also built by university students from around the world.

What particularly impressed many who witnessed the competition, was that while the two cars built by the students, who were competing for the first time, passed the critical tests and made it to the competition proper, some cars built by students from more technologically advanced countries failed the same tests and were disqualified.
Excitement filled the air at the assessment centre called the Paddock as the international team of assessors cleared Tuke-Tuke and AUTONOV II to join the race.
Although, countries that had attended severally in the past eventually won the competition, the students regarded Nigeria’s feat of passing the very rigorous technical and safety evaluations very encouraging
The competition challenges university students worldwide to design, build and test ultra energy efficient cars. It also inspires them to think about what few thought was possible: to drive over thousands of kilometers using just one litre of fuel.
The team with the car that travels the farthest, using the least amount of energy, eventually wins the race.
But before taking to the tracks, all participating cars were expected to pass a strict technical inspection, to determine their fitness and safety. Despite all odds, Tuke-Tuke and AUTONOV II were cleared to join the race with cars from 25 other countries, comprising over 200 teams.
Nigeria’s participation marks the first time a Sub Saharan African country would join the race. The UNIBEN students, according to officials, built their car within seven months, on their campus. The team participated in the Urban Concept category, and used petrol as its energy type.
The UNILAG team participated in the prototype category. The AUTONOV II was in the category of solar battery-electric.
Apart from making history as the first two teams from Sub Saharan Africa to participate at the marathon, both teams also joined an elitist group of 10 out of the 200 teams at the event, that participated at an opening ceremony.
Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Ben Van Beurden, who visited the two Nigeria teams during the competition, was particularly thrilled that the Eco-Marathon sparked the needed passion for engineering in the Nigerian team.
Praising the Nigerians for their resilience, he said: “We have been doing this for over 30 years. It started in France and has gone round the world. It is fantastic to see the scale that we have now. The energy, enthusiasm and innovation that have taken place and the fact that we have a Nigerian team here, is an incredible milestone.
“In my mind, Africa is the continent of the future. It has so much potential, so much dynamism, so much growth today that I think this actually is going to be a very important milestone going forward.”
For Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Mrs. Nimota Nihinlola Akanbi, that the students could pass all the technical stages to compete with other teams from around the world was a clear testimony that Nigeria’s path to technological advancement was on course.
She said: “We may not claim to have reached the destination, but we are on the right track of history. One day, we will reach there.”
Addressing the students at a reception she hosted, she said: “Your pioneering participation in this competition is not a coincidence, but an outcome of hard work and the desire to excel as implanted in us.”
Mrs. Kolapo Jolayem of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), an arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which co-sponsored the students, said: “This is the first time that Nigeria is coming for the competition, and we passed the technical evaluation at one trial. I feel great and proud to be a Nigerian.”
The UNIBEN team’s supervisor, Prof Akii Ibhadode, expressed surprise that the students’ car pulled through, against all the odds.
He said: “It is wonderful. It is great. This is the first time we are coming for this competition and we were able to pass the technical inspection. Many teams do come. But this is the first time that we are participating and we didn’t know that we could come this far with the 10 technical tests.
“We are hoping to do better than this time in the 2015 competition. It took the students only seven months to produce the car. We had intended that this one that we did would be our first version. We were initially preparing for Qatar in November 2014. But somehow, we were fast tracked to come and compete in Europe 2014. We had very little time to do the second version of the car, so we had to settle for this first version. It gave us so many problems. But thank God we were able to overcome the problems, especially concerning weight. We hope to do much better in 2015. The finishing would be greater.
“Our students are wonderful. They are great. Shell gave them this opportunity and they were able to utilize it. They were motivated, committed and they discovered that they could do the things they never thought that they could. This has inspired other students and we are looking forward to a greater technological future for Nigeria.”
One of the participants, a 500 Level Production Engineering student at UNIBEN, Adekoya Adeyemi said: “Even when we thought all hope was lost, we kept on checking and reworking the car, based on the observations of the assessors, who drilled us for one week before the competition. I remember the day we passed the weight test. We saw it as a miracle. When we came for the breaks, we were told we failed and we had to go and rework certain aspects. Within a short time, we were able to sort out all the identified technical problems. God has been wonderful. We were also challenged by the high technology deplored by students from many advanced countries. We thank God that we eventually scaled through.
He continued: “The whole journey started last year when we came for a see-it-yourself tour here in the Netherlands. We came to see other competitors and study the competition. We marvelled at what students like us were doing. We were challenged.
“Two of us came and we went back and did the team selection. We are 15 on the team that built the cars. The key thing in the marathon is the environment, apart from innovation. We are to use eco friendly materials. The weight is also a key issue in the competition. We used fibre material in building the body.
“We also used steel, because getting aluminum was a bit challenging. We sourced for other materials locally also. Our brake pads, for instance, were produced with palm kernel. Our interior fabric was also produced with our local fabric, adire.”
Another participant, a 400 level Mechanical Engineering student at UNILAG, Segun Adebayo, said when the opportunity first came, it sounded like an impossible task.
He said: “Before now, we used to see these kinds of innovation on Google and YouTube and we used to be amazed with how far students from developed countries had gone in technology. We never knew we would soon build cars like them. Now, it is not anything spectacular any more. By our modest calculation, we have done well. While we were assembling the car and preparing for technical inspection during the week, we saw students from great teams across the world stop over to exchange pleasantries with us, and they were fascinated by the design of our car. That alone gave us hope that we were on track. Other teams have come here to say our car looks special and different, so I don’t feel intimidated.”
The UNILAG Team manager and 500 Level Electrical/ Electronics Engineering student, Abraham Imohiosen, said: “To produce the vehicle, we had to first of all identify what we needed to do. We had to work with students in mechanical, electrical, material engineering and related disciplines. We also had to do a bit of publicity and source for sponsorship. We interviewed students of the faculties of engineering and sciences that would help with the task, and we found a few that were highly distinguished in their classes. It has been a very engaging experience for me.
Shade Agbaje, a 400 Level Mechanical Engineering student from UNILAG, is the main driver for AUTONOV 11 and also a member of the Mechanical Sub Team.
She told The Guardian: “We entered for the prototype category, using electric battery as our source of fuel. As an engineering student, innovation is my basic driver. My passion for joining this team was because I have always loved anything automobile, right from when I was small. That was my main drive for applying to study engineering in the first place. I found engineering as a good discipline to build my passion and dream. I want to encourage more ladies to go into the engineering profession.”
The UNILAG Team supervisor and Professor of Engineering, Ike Mowete, said: “The significance of this is that, we have moved from the usual pattern of staying on the drawing board, stimulating, without getting to the physical hardware.
“For most of these students, this is the first time they are converting their designs into proper hardware. We had to put together a great team from the disciplines of creative art, architecture, electrical engineering, material engineering, mechanical engineering, physics and so on. We had very brilliant students. This is the first time that they are moving from computer prototypes to the actual things.
“These are learning points for the nation. We should not stop here. We will ensure elements of continuity from our end. We have already started recruiting students from the lower levels to make this part of their final year project, so that they can start early.”
President of the Nigerian National Association in the Netherlands, Oliver Nwankwor, said: “The best thing that is happening to Nigeria is the participation of our youths in an innovative competition and their success at the event. Most of the causes of insecurity as cited by some of our Nigerian leaders are illiteracy, poverty and unemployment, to the extent that it may seem to someone who is not from Nigeria, that there are no Nigerian youths engaged in innovative activities. But Nigeria’s achievements at this year’s Eco-Marathon is showing the whole world that our youths can innovate, given the right enablement.