Those who used to think that Nigerian engineers do not have the intellectual know-how to make inventions and proffer solutions to the needs of mankind may have been proven wrong by the outcome of an engineering Olympiad which took place in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The national engineering, innovation and entrepreneurship contest event which was held at the Nigeran Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, corporate office complex attracted participants various universities in the south-south, including the University of Port Harcourt and the University of Benin, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State.
The others that took part in the competition were the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun, Delta State, and University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
They all showcased hardware and software prototypes developed to serve as innovative solutions to real-world challenges, with specific reference to Nigeria and Africa. But UNIBEN and UNIPORT shone brighter at the end of the day.
UNIPORT was represented by innovation Team Pretronics, while UNIBEN was represented by Team Vhorde at thecompetition which was launched in 2025 by a non-profit organization, Enactus Nigeria, in partnership with the NCDMB, Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, First Exploration & Petroleum Development Company and the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).
Team Pretronics presented a smart power control and an automating electricity usage, using intelligent locking systems, highlighting high electricity bills, electricity fire risk and expensive smart home, and proceeded to list gaps in existing solutions. They include costly installation, as change in wiring is required; lack of integration between security and energy, and dependence on the Internet.
The team’s solution was “a smart energy door lock that switches off a user’s electricity supply when they lock to leave the house.” According to the students, their solution saves money on electricity bill, reduces the risk of electric fire accident, and is affordable to everyone.
The UNIBEN team made a presentation on what it terms IRIS, Intelligent Real-time Interface for Sight, pointing out that there are 4.5 million visually impaired Nigerians who are in some way incapacitated and unable to live life to the fullest. The students displayed an IRIS pack, which consisted of TOF sensors, wearable glasses, microphone, camera and Haptic feedback.
On how the IRIS works, the smart glasses, which consist of camera, depth sensor, and edge AI (Artificial Intelligence) processor, enable a visually impaired person to see and understand the world in real time. There is also an AI Compute Unit, to be worn at the waist, which “runs CNN (convolutional neutral network) object detection, face recognition, and voice processing on-device.”
In a section on Business Model and Revenue Streams, the team indicated production-scale pricing for IRIS Standard as N699,000 (one-time purchase. IRIS Standard has the following functions: real-time object and scene identification, familiar face recognition, obstacle and hazard detection (haptic wristbands), natural voice interaction, Edge AI – fully offline core functions, and OTA software updates via Wi-Fi.
In an assessment of the prototypes and demonstrations made, one of the key judges of the competition, Dokubo Obongo, Manager, Institutional Strengthening, at the NCDMB, described all the presentations as “top-notch,” noting that “There are solutions that are viable – marketwise – relevant to our society and the challenges we face.”
He explained that the Engineering Olympiad is “a competition targeted at developing home-grown solutions from research and development from Nigerian universities.” According to him, “the idea is to see how we can proffer solutions to our own problems,” which means creating business opportunities.
Speaking for Enactus Nigeria, the group’s Country Director, Mr. Michael Ajayi, said the two top finalists from the six geopolitical zones would move to a boot camp for further preparation towards the main national championship, and that the best three teams would share N100 million. He also disclosed that each of the 30 teams that displayed prototype technology in the regional competition would receive N3 million.
