By Fidelia Ben-Udi
The governor of Delta State, His Excellency, Senator Arthur Okowa has urged the Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (NIEEE), to keep up the research bothering around solving the challenges of power in the country.
His Excellency, ably represented by the Honourable Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Engr. Lawrence Ejiofor, made this statement during the investiture ceremony of Engr. Ikechukwu Collins Osunde as Chairman of the NIEEE, Asaba chapter, at one of the conference rooms in the Chike Edozie Secretariat.
His Excellency, while giving the opening speech against the backdrop of the theme of the event; Energy harvesting wireless communication: A futuristic Approach, touched on some of the challenges in the power sector as an impediment on economic growth and the general development of the country.
He noted that power is one of the greatest challenges the country is facing and acknowledge that the nation would thrive if this issue is fixed. He said that the society would function almost seamlessly with the availability of effective power supply and stressed the need to explore alternative sources of energy in order to overcome the challenge.
The governor expressed delight at the budding innovation and his desire to see more innovations in the power sector as he encouraged the Institute to harness their ideas to bring a lasting solution to power in the nation.
Engr. Dr. Alexander Akpofure, a beneficiary of the Delta State oversee Scholarship for First Class Graduate Scheme, and Currently a lecturer in the department of Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering, University of Lagos, delivered the lecture.
Engr. Akpofure in gratitude to the State government, expressed his desire to give back to the State and indeed the Nigerian society. He made a brilliant presentation on energy harvesting which has to do with scavenging energy sources in the environment to generate alternate sources of power.
Breaking it down to the lay man’s level, he said if this technology were to be harnessed, it would mean that ‘’mobile phones would no longer be charged by the conventional method. So long as I am receiving a phone call, energy is available and that device will charge automatically”.
The high point of the ceremony was the investiture; the outgoing National Chairman NIEEE, Engr. Eddy Ebruke, MNSE, MNIEEE, handed over the baton of leadership to Engr. Ikechukwu Osunde MNSE, FNIEEE as the fourth Chairman of the NIEEE, Asaba Chapter.
