The Oyakhilome Bello Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has trained no fewer than 100 youths on biogas and solar panel production.
Mr. Oyakhilome Bello, All Progressives Congress (APC) United States National Youth Leader and founder of the foundation, said this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He spoke at the ongoing Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology’s Technology and Innovation Expo 2024 with the theme “STI Solution to the National Economic Challenge.”.
Bello said that the gesture was to provide alternative energy sources to address the current epileptic electricity supply in the country.
“The youths we trained and empowered were from the six geopolitical zones and were trained for six weeks.
“We want Nigerians and the government to see biogas as an alternative to generate electricity in the country. We plan to invest more in biogas and solar panel production.
“We are working in collaboration with the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology and the Energy Commission of Nigeria.
“We plan to take the project to rural communities to impact the less privileged because that is our utmost desire—to touch lives and to change destiny,” he said.
Bello said that besides being an alternative cooking fuel, producing biogas creates dignified jobs in the fields of local manufacturing, construction, and the operation of biogas plants.
He said that communities and industries needed to be encouraged to adopt sustainable and accountable practices to manage their waste, which serves as the major material for biogas production.
Mr. Olaniyi Ilori, the foundation’s national coordinator, said it would continue to support the APC and President Bola Tinubu’s administration to ensure it achieved its renewed hope agenda.
He said the Oyakhilome Bello Foundation was participating in the ongoing exhibition to showcase its innovation in biogas and solar panel production, which has a lot of potential.
He noted that the potential of biogas was yet to be properly harnessed because of a lack of awareness.
Ilori said though the ministry was doing a lot in other areas, there was a need for it to create awareness of biogas as an alternative to the expensive cooking gas.
This, he said, would help address the use of firewood as a cooking energy source and reduce deforestation by extension.
“The Ministry is expected to finance many waste-to-wealth projects across the country. All that waste around the country can be used to generate electricity that will empower millions of homes.
“As an NGO, we will continue to contribute to the development of our country in our little way,” he said.
The STI Expo 2024 is expected to expose investors to commercializing research results, inventions, and innovations in the country.(NAN)
