An ex- student of Apostles College, Ebonyi State, Mr. Ihere-serg Mascot, has called on the Federal Government to look inward and commercialise inventions made by students to promote the country’s technological advancement.
Mascot, who built a solar powered vehicle, made this appeal during an interview, in Abuja, on Wednesday.
He said the inventions were viable and could generate employment for the masses only if government and private investors would key into the efforts of the young inventors.
“This solar powered vehicle can serve four people at a time just like Keke Napep. The good thing about it is that it does not use petrol. Just park the car under the sun and it is activated to serve you.
“Government’s assistance will make the car look better, and then you will find that even more students will be encouraged to be more creative and productive.
“Nigerian youths can be manufacturers of cars if our government have faith in us and invest in the things we build; our teachers are some of the best in the world. They only need facilities to be on ground.’’
He appealed to the Federal Government to encourage youths by funding the commercialisation of more of their inventions.
Emeka Ugwueze, another young inventor, invented a dual purpose waste management bio-degradable machine.
Its waste recycling fuel can also mold interlocking blocks.
Nelson, an old student of the Community Secondary School, Umuokpu Awka, Anambra State, said the science projects they were involved in school had helped him.
“The name I gave my invention is Change. The project took me about six months to put together, and it is a project that is environment-friendly.
“With the machine, plastic waste products in the environment can be converted to a better use; it is a machine that turns waste to wealth.
“It can be used to convert pure water sachets that litter the environment into bio-fuel that can be used to run our generators.
“Also, it can be used to manufacture environment-friendly interlocking blocks that do not only beautify the environment, but also absolves plastic waste in our surroundings.’’
Ugwueze said he was able to produce the machine by collecting things in the environment that everyone thought were waste products and converted them to useful products.
He called on the government to invest in the invention in order to promote creativity and self-reliance among youths to bring about wealth creation.
“If we can produce such a machine with the encouragement and input of our teachers and parents, we can do greater things if government would put money and the resources
available to it.
“I appeal to the government to help me add value to this machine by making resources available, so that it can be more refined and available to people’’,
Ugwueze said.
Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said recently that the Federal Government was determined to encourage the application of technology as a veritable tool for national development.
“We need to strengthen the acquisition and application of technology as an important instrument for national development.
“Indeed, we need to place greater emphasis on science, engineering, technology and innovation, to enable us achieve self-reliance, national pride and global recognition’’, Onu said.
The youths, therefore, called on the government to put words into action so that their potentials
would be harnessed toward the achievement of a socio-economic development of the country. (NAN)