By Aidoghie Paulinus
Nigeria, is set to launch the first ever Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) stove in March, 2022.
Chairman of Unicorn Group, Akintoye Akindele, disclosed the plan yesterday in Lagos when he received the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who was at the Lagos Hub Centre of Unicorn Group.
Unicorn Group, a Pan African Investment Company, is targeting innovative ideas, start ups and early stage companies in the technology and technology-enabled sectors across the African continent.
The mass production of the LNG stove by eight young Nigerians at the Lagos Hub Centre of Unicorn Group, Akindele stated, will be kick started before the end of 2022.
While saying that the production will target both local and export market, Akindele also said young men have been able to channel ingenuity in the process of converting natural gas which were earlier exported into cooking gas.
The innovation, according to Akindele, would be affordable, available and accessible, even as he said it would be green, hence, environmental friendly.
The technological breakthrough, Akindele further said, will help address gas flaring in the country.
“They designed it in this company. We will then patent it and will then export it to the world. Our gas is our blessing. We can now benefit from exporting natural gas.
“We can now go and export LNG. What we are incurring in electricity bill, in cooking gas is too expensive. We are trying to use energy for industrialisation and for domestic purpose. This, we have been able to actualise,” Akindele said.
In his remarks, Mohammed said he was in the Unicorn hub, not just to see the great job that Unicorn is doing, but also to help tell the world what Unicorn is doing.
The visibly elated Minister of Information and Culture stated that Unicorn is a true representation of the Nigerian spirit.
He added that the best way to build local capacity of young Nigerians and tell African story was true education.
Mohammed assured the group of his assistance by linking them with government institutions that would partner with them to make their products and services available to the public.
“As I always say, it is not just enough to do good things. You must be seen to be doing them.
“We will give you visibility. We will tell the world what you are and what you do. And we will also take this to the government. I am sure many government MDAs will be happy to know what is going on here and to leverage on many of them. We will be the link between you and the government.
“Unicorn is a true representation of the Nigerian Spirit, giving hope and helping to build a new Nigeria.
” Unicorn is watering the seeds of innovation. Unicorn is showing that impossible is not Nigerian, impossible is not African.
“Thank you for believing in Nigeria and for putting your money where your mouth is. Bringing children into this whole ecosystem is a winner. Bringing children from different disadvantaged communities is a game changer.
“Seeing young Nigerian authors rising to become world beaters is inspiring. This is where dreams come true. This is where ideas are born and they become reality.
“Having the young ones, from primary to secondary, to tertiary schools to see the best of Nigeria and the best of Africa is massive. Truly, exposure is the best education,” Mohammed said.