Business
NOTAP Launches Technology Storyboards, Soon
The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) is to launch technology storyboards project for primary and secondary schools before the end of 2012.
Its Director-General, Dr Umar Bindir made this known on Sunday in Abuja in an interview with newsmen.
Bindir explained that the storyboard is a project initiated by NOTAP to demonstrate with pictures, how technology is deployed in the production of certain goods from the raw material stage to finished products.
He said that the idea was to post such storyboards on walls in primary and secondary schools so that the child begins to see and understand how some products such as the powdered milk are made.
He said that such would make the child not to be completely technologically adamant as well as expose him or her to begin to personally want to inquire into how things are made.
He said that Nigerians had been consuming liquid milk in tins for more than 40 years and powdered milk as well for a long while, stressing that most children did not seem to know where milk came from.
“Where does milk come from? It comes from cow so our children know the source and they are drinking milk in powder but they would never have imagined that it is this milk that has become this powder that they are using.
“So we produce a technology storyboard: from the cow, it is evaporated, and we put vitamins and minerals and it is the powdered milk you are drinking.
“So we want to see children say: ‘Hey! Is this true?
“The next like condiments: this, every child knows because his or her mother is using it but actually it starts from soybeans: their mother also is the same people who are going to the farm to go and bring the soybean.
“So this secret hidden, we want to unleash it: so from the soybeans we clean it, we soak it, we ferment it, we dry it and mix it and then it becomes magi.’’
Bindir explained that the agency planned to create technology storyboards on more than 50 processes of transforming local raw materials into finished products consumed by Nigerians.
He said that the initiative was more like a teaching tool but it would have been time consuming trying to develop a curriculum to teach processes; which is why NOTAP chose to deploy the storyboards.
“We have got more than 50 of these from gas that is being flared to plastic chairs, from rocks and sand to cement, from aluminum dug out of the soil to aluminum foil.
“So let me have a child passing this board for six years in primary school not understanding that things transform, things change.
“I want to see children saying mummy: do you know how this plastic bottle is made? And the child would say well mummy it’s from the gas that is flared, you capture it and you crack it using chemistry.
“It is the same storyboard that continue going with you until you graduate to university.
“So we have now gotten it, we got the school headmasters and teachers to come and we discussed about it as a teaching tool and am happy to report that we have now gotten the pictorials; cleaned up, all these 50 ready.’’
The director-general explained that the only thing left was to pay courtesy visits to ministers of education and science and technology to showcase the storyboard.
“If we don’t do it by the end of this year, by January or February we would be witnessing these things being pinned to the walls of primary and secondary schools.’’
Some Commercial drivers in Port Harcourt have said that the Federal Government’s N1,350 fuel discount is yet to reduce their daily operating cost.
A cross session of commercial drivers who spoke to The Tide correspondents in Port Harcourt said they are yet to feel the impact of the government discount, adding that most filling stations in the city are even selling above the pump price
A driver Jude Ogbo who operates the mile 1 Rumuokoro axis of Port Harcourt said plies the discount has not reflected in his daily fuel expenses.
“Since the discount was announced, many filling stations still sell at the old price. When you go there, you discover they sell you two litres at the price of one. For now, we have not seen any reduction,”_ he said.
Another commercial driver, Comrade Ishmael Uzeho who operates within the Port Harcourt metropolis, said the discount is not being implemented across the country.
“How has the discount affected us? I will say it has not. Many stations are not working. Only NNPC is working and that is just one person in the whole country. If government really wants to help, let the fuel price go down properly,”_ he said.
Uzeho added that if the price of fuel goes down, transport fares will also go down. He noted that his route fare has remained at N500.
On his part, Mr. Moses Dapa, Supervisor at Sam Jaja Foundation Transport Company, said the company has not increased its fares despite the high cost of fuel.
“We are still running normal price. We charge N2,000 and N5,000 depending on the destination. We will not increase our price. I don’t know about other parks, but for Sam Jaja, we are maintaining normal price,”_ Dapa said.
He appealed to passengers to understand that drivers are not using high fuel price as an excuse to charge excessive fares.
Other drivers who spoke said the federal government should monitor the NNPCL retail stations to ensure that the directive is implemented.
Recalled that The Federal Government in abid to reduce transportation cost in the country had announced a 30-day margin discount at NNPC Retail stations across the country from October 1 to 31,
However investigation revealed that the policy is yet to affect transportation cost in the country.
By; Stephens Sopakriba and Saint Davies
In a press statement released to The Tide’s source on Friday in Abuja, the group said Nigeria had a significant resource advantage due to its vast natural gas reserves.
“At a time when global energy markets face unprecedented volatility and rising operational costs, Nigeria stands on a massive resource advantage with its vast natural gas reserves,” the group said.
Highlighting this potential, Alfa Designs urged the nation to move past complaints over energy costs and aggressively embrace Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a sustainable engine for economic growth.
While federal policy adjustments have sought to cushion the impact of global energy shocks, industry experts emphasised that long-term relief hinges on a rapid, nationwide transition to gas.
“Transitioning away from expensive traditional petroleum products promises to ease the financial burden on ordinary citizens.
“It will also reposition Nigeria as an attractive industrial hub capable of drawing foreign direct investment and driving job creation,” it said.
To demonstrate the practical feasibility of this transition, the group said it recently partnered with a global Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to lower the entry barriers for commercial drivers.
“By negotiating directly with the manufacturer, we reduced the total cost of acquiring and installing a CNG conversion kit for commercial tricycles (commonly known as Keke NAPEP) from up to N700,000 down to under N450,000.”
The group said this shift offers dramatic immediate financial benefits for local operators, with petrol currently selling at roughly N1,390 per liter.
It said that, in comparison, at a CNG equivalent price of about N98 per liter, a daily commercial driver using 10 liters of fuel reduces its daily energy expenditure from N13,900 to N3,980.
“This represents a daily net savings of N9,920, or more than 71 per cent.
“Over a standard 26-day working month, drivers save over N257,000, allowing them to fully recover the cost of the CNG conversion in less than 46 operational days.”
The company further stated that when scaled nationally, the economic implications are monumental.
“Nigeria consumes approximately 50 million liters of gasoline daily, costing roughly N69.5 billion per day.
“A nationwide 71 per cent reduction in fuel expenditure would generate daily national energy savings of N49.6 billion.
“On an annualised basis, this shift equates to approximately N18.1 trillion, or $13.5 billion, kept within the domestic economy.”
The group added that those recurring national savings would offer a vital mechanism to help address Nigeria’s estimated $2.3 trillion infrastructure deficit.
It said reinvesting those funds into the economy helps eliminate the 30 to 40 per cent operational overhead currently consumed by imported fossil fuels.
“The resulting boost to corporate margins expands the national tax base, generates reliable user-fee revenues to make major transit projects bankable, and creates a self-sustaining financial cycle,” it said.
