Priscilla Ofunre, Ado-Ekiti
Prof. Eliazer Bobby Niadoo, a professor of Chemistry of the Vaal University of Technology (VUT), South Africa, has, on Tuesday, dropped a bombsehll on the proposed clean up exercise of the massively polluted Nigerian Niger Deltan waters, submitting categorically that no chemical can effectively clean up the waters to the extent that they would return hitherto, their natural state as such exercise would only amount to efforts in futility.
Prof. Niadoo cautioned that precautionary steps should rather be taken to ensure that a natural environment is not polluted instead of making fruitless efforts to bring such polluted gifts of nature back to normal.
This was just as a Professor of Industrial and Macromolecular Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, (FUOYE), Prof. Olayide Lawal has urged the Federal Government to be more committed to funding science based researches and procurement of learning facilities in the universities so as to develop the nation’s science and technological sectors.
In the same vein, a Professor of Dance and Performance Aesthetics, Prof. Bakare Ojo Rasaki has charged scientists to be more committed to serving humanity rather than working towards self successes.
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The university dons made the remarks during the FUOYE 2019 International Science Conference, held at the school’s large Lecture Theatre hall of faculty of sciences on Tuesday. The conference was themed: “Innovation and Advancement in Nanonscience and Nanotechnology”. The conference would lead to a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the FUOYE faculty of sciences and the Vaal University of Technology for research collaborations.
Prof. Naidoo who delivered a lecture entitled :” Nanoscience: Application and Techniques, decried that industrial activities have led to a continuous shrinking of clean water, signalling a gradual extinction of the human race if not checked. He posited the application of nanoscience as elixir to the environmental challenge.
Asked of the Nigerian Niger Delta, which waters have been largely ravaged by industrial pollutions from oil firms, he said: “We must be frank with ourselves, The Niger Delta environmental hazard has gone beyond repair. As long as there is continued industrial activities in such area, you are just marking time for the extinction of the natural environment and its endowment. We should rather concentrate on preventing our existing natural environment from being further polluted by industrial activities. Politicians haven’t really helped in saving many African natural environments.”
Speaking about the international conference which was organized by the faculty of sciences, Prof. Lawal who revealed that the faculty now boasts of 10 academic departments, adding that efforts are in top gear to increase the number with three more, said the conference was the fourth after a maiden edition in 2016.
He said: “A glance through the list of presentations…reveal the amazing diversity and muiti-displinary perspectives of this conference. Nanoscience is science, engineering and technology conducted synthetic nonscale, which is about 1 to 100 Nanometers. It is the study and application of extremely small materials that can be used accross many fields such as Material Science, Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, Biotechnology, Information and Communication Technology, Energy Agriculture, and also Industry. It is the target of the faculty of sciences to make FUOYE a centre of excellence for this field of nanoscience and Nanotechnology,” he said.
