Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), in partnership with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (LCCI), presented the winning work of The Nigeria Prize for Science for 2019 to
industry players to help reduce country’s carbon footprint and kick-start a vibrant
bioenergy industry.
The winners, Professor Meihong Wang and Dr Mathew Aneke, on Thursday presented
their work on Carbon Capture, Carbon Utilization, Biomass Gasification and Energy
Storage for Power Generation at the annual NLNG-LCCI Business Interactive Forum.
This year’s forum was held as a webinar.
The 2019 winning work provides solutions to the capture of carbon from the atmosphere
and subsequent utilization as well as providing alternative and safe energy for cooking
and electricity, with the potential of reversing the trend of tree cutting for cooking and
contributing positively to the roll-back of droughts and desertification in the country.
The Nigeria Prize for Science is a $100,000 award sponsored by NLNG, in the last 15
years, to promote innovations in science and technology that will solve age-old
problems and drive development in Nigeria. The prize is awarded annually.
In her remarks, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable
Development, Mrs Eyono Fatayi-Williams, said the company has gotten an inspiring list
of winning works in different areas of science through The Nigeria Prize for Science.
She added that the force behind NLNG’s drive was its vision of “helping to build a better
Nigeria”.
She remarked further that the Company’s interest was to make solutions, recognised
through the prize, practicable and beneficial to Nigerians. She stated that NLNG was
keen to contribute to solutions that will uplift the country beyond its developmental
challenge and that will bring value to ordinary Nigerians.
She stated further that NLNG was partnering with the Lagos Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (LCCI) to build an interface with industry players that will push these novel
solutions beyond research to commercial success. She called on the LCCI members to
explore opportunities presented by the winning works in the Nigeria Prize for Science.
In her speech, the President of Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI),
Mrs Toki Mabogunje, represented by the Deputy President of the Chamber, Dr Olawale
Cole, said the handshake between the industry players and scientists is the path to
generating value that can turn around the narrative on the country’s development.
She added that the NLNG/LCCI Business Interactive Webinar will help drive healthy
conversations that can enable wide-scale use of the winning works, urging scientists
seeking solutions to Nigeria problems not to relent in generating innovations that will
improve the lives of Nigerians.
Professor Wang is a Professor of Energy Systems at the University of Sheffield. He is a
Chartered Engineer and has published over 180 technical papers and industrial reports.
Some of his papers have won awards such as the SAGE Best Paper Prize 2014 and
Ludwig Mond Prize 2014 by IMechE.
Dr Aneke, a graduate of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, is a
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield with expertise in process
design and modelling, power systems analysis, power generation, renewable energy
and environmental protection, amongst others. He has authored and co-authored over
27 research works. Dr Aneke has played various roles in major researches. He was co-
investigator in the South Africa Green Fund Research and the Swiss-NRF Research
Grant in 2013. He also received the “Applied Energy Most-Cited Paper” Award for two
consecutive years (2016/2017 and 2017/2018).
