The Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has received accolades for its 2022 Nigeria Prize for Science to industry players, which was done in an effort to push agricultural innovations that can positively impact food security in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the award presentation in Lagos, one of the awardees, Prof. Sesan Ayodeji, who was visibly elated over the award, expressed gratitude to NLNG for the opportunity granted him and his colleagues to showcase their scientific potential.
Prof. Ayodeji said, “I hold NLNG in high esteem and I appreciate their transparency and the quality of the award. The team that looked at the submitted works consisted of seasoned professor emeritus from different parts of the country. That makes me feel very elated.
“That you’re doing something in the corner of your university and it was able to compete with several other quality entries, well over a hundred, according to them, has given me a level of confidence in what I am doing. I am very grateful to NLNG because this has boosted the morale of so many of my colleagues who have been working without any hope of when their works will be rewarded. They are now encouraged and it will propel people to do more.”
On how his team’s invention will impact the food security of the country, he said, “this work will impact food security a great deal. You know the importance of plantain and with the addition we are bringing, you can do a lot of varieties of food from plantain flour. You can produce all manner of snacks and confectionaries from it. Since plantain flour can now be put to a lot of uses, it will encourage more farmers to go into its cultivation.
With time, we might be able to reduce the size of this plantain processing machine to what an average farmer can afford.”
Prof. Ayodeji and his partner, Dr. Emmanuel Olatunji Olutomilola, were awarded for their work, Development of Process Plant for Plantain Flour in a joint prize with the duo of Dr. Muhydideen Oyekunle and Prof. Shehu Ado for their work, Gains in Grain Yield of Released Maize (Zea Mays L.) Cultivars under Drought and Well-Watered Conditions.
The Development of Process Plant for Plantain Flour is an important innovation for reducing the spoilage of farm products.
It is also resourceful in scaling up from batch production to industrial-scale continuous flour production and it is relevant beyond plantain to other food items. On the other hand, Gains in Grain Yield of Released Maize (Zea Mays L.) Cultivers under Drought and Well-Watered Conditions speaks to developing hybrid, high-yielding and water stress-tolerant maize seeds.