Nigeria will launch the first-ever Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) stove next month ahead of its export later in the year following a groundbreaking invention by a team of young Nigerian start-ups.
The historic feat by Ridge Energy was disclosed yesterday in Lagos by the Chairman of Unicorn Group, Dr Akintoye Akindele, when the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, paid an inspection visit to the hub.
The LNG stove was designed by eight young start-ups led by Bukunola Bolajoko and Martin Omodube.
The project is under the Unicorn Group, a Pan African Investment Company targeting innovative ideas, start-ups and early-stage companies in the technology-enabled sectors across Africa.
Akindele said the products would be patented for mass production for both local and export markets.
He said the young entrepreneurs deployed their ingenuity in the process of converting the natural gas which hitherto was being exported into cooking gas, adding that the process would be green and environmentally friendly, which will help address gas flaring in the country.
On his own, Bolajoko said the team met last December, and last month they came up with a design that would suit the Nigerian market and take the consumers into consideration.
“We will have a prototype design by the end of the month, and by next month, we will test it and sell it in the market. I am 100 per cent sure it will pass the standard test,” she said.
Fellow designer, Omodube, said the design process is made up storage system where energy is stored and kept as a liquid at all times and the re-gasification units, which is the use of a novel method to change LNG into natural gas.
The LNG stove will emit the lowest Co2 to the atmosphere and will make use of a special type of burner system that maximises thermal efficiency.
In his remarks, the Minister, Mohammed, described Unicorn Group as a true representation of the Nigerian spirit that is giving hope and watering the seeds of innovation.
“Unicorn is showing that impossible is not Nigerian, impossible is not African. I wish to thank you for believing in Nigeria and for putting your money where your mouth is. Bringing children into this whole ecosystem is a winner, and bringing children from different disadvantaged communities is a game-changer. Seeing young Nigerian authors rising to become world beaters is inspiring,” Mohammed said.
Investors from South Africa, Botswana, Antigua, United States and Nigeria attended the presentation.
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