Students create urine powered generator to combat electricity shortage in Nigeria

It's ironic that Nigeria, Africa's leading oil producer, suffers from frequent fuel and power shortages. But four school girls have found a solution from an unlikely source: urine.

Most Nigerians have to rely on generators because of the epileptic power supply. Many businesses have also closed down because they cannot afford to buy expensive fuel from the black market to power their generators.

Faced with this problem, four teenagers from the Doregos Private Academy School in Lagos developed a generator powered by urine.

"We noticed that many Nigerians, [those whose] businesses depend on a power supply have virtually been put out of business because of the high cost of power, so we decided to make a device that will reduce this problem. We noticed that waste products can be used to generate energy that is why we decided to experiment on urine," said Eniola Bello, one of the students.

The generator is powered by hydrogen and oxygen formed from urine stored in a compartment attached to the generator.

Adebola Duro-Aina, another student, said six litres of urine can power the small generator for 36 hours.

"This urine is being electrolysed, releasing hydrogen and oxygen gas, and this then goes into our gas tank. Our gas tank here stores the gases, and anytime we need the gas we can open up the gas tank and release the gas and our generator is powered."

When the girls power up the generator, the light bulbs in the room lit up.

"The generator powers everything in the house," one of the girls said. "We were so excited, we were so happy once the generator started working."

The girls say they were frustrated with growing up in an environment where they cannot read at night or watch their favourite television program because of the irregular power supply. The invention of this urine powered generator comes at a time when the Nigerian government is under increasing pressure to address the country's electricity problems.

RFI

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Man bathes fiancée in acid

A middle-aged man David Suleiman has been arrested by the police in Lagos State for allegedly pouring acid on his fiancée, Chika Egbo and a yet to be identified Okada rider at Ikotun area of Lagos State.

Suleiman who is currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti,Yaba, Lagos, was said to have attacked his girl friend, a 300 level student at Enugu State College of Education, with acid for refusing him access to their only child.

Police sources at the state SCID, intimated Vanguard that trouble began for the couple when Egbo became pregnant for Suleiman, and he abandoned her claiming that he travelled out of the country, and leaving her with the burden of fending for herself and the baby.

But few months after giving birth, he came back requesting to see the baby and he was refused.

A source, who craved anonymity, said he tricked the 25-year-old students who resides in Enugu State to Lagos State and he took her to an hidden spot in Ikotun where he poured the acid on her.

"An Okada rider who witnessed as the incident unfold went after Suleiman, but while he chased him, Suleiman emptied the can of acid on the Okada rider, who held him strongly waiting for the help.

Other Okada riders who drove by saw what was happening and the came to his rescue and they took Suleiman to Ikotun police station while the Okada rider and Egbo were rushed to a hospital."

Meanwhile, Egbo, who is laying critically ill at the emergency unit of the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, had her face, chest and some other parts of body destroyed by the acid bath.

Vanguard

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Airport staff caught with $2 million at Lagos airport

A staff of a company operating at the Lagos airport was arrested along with a traveler trying to transport over two million dollars and 20,300 Saudi Arabian riyals at the weekend.

Mr. Hassan Rmaiti who had a duty card supplied by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was arrested together with Mr. Talal Hammoud as they evaded Customs with three bags containing $2,073,160 and 20,300 Saudi Arabian Riyal, an official said.

The two men were arrested by the Airport Special Task Force at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, said airport area comptroller of Customs Mr Eporwei Edike Charles.

He said the cash was seized from the suspects after they failed to declare it to officers on duty.

Charles said in a statement that the suspects were identified as Mr. Talal Hammoud with passport number A03599105 and Mr. Hassan Rmaiti with FAAN "on duty card number 25009 and the three bags of money have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and necessary action."

But the area comptroller did not say which company Mr. Rmaiti was representing at the airport. It is customary that FAAN issues duty cards to people working at the airport even though they are not FAAN staff, our correspondent says.

Charles said the foreign currencies were found on the two suspects at the "E" wing departure area of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

"The suspects violated regulations of government by attempting to take such amount of money out of the country without declaring the currencies to Nigeria Customs currency desk officers on duty," he added.

This seizure is coming after several others made recently in Lagos as well as in Abuja.

Just last week, the Customs in Lagos arrested a passenger with over $320,000 aboard a Qatar Airways flight bound to Doha.

Weeks ago, a man arrested with hard currency was convicted at a court in Lagos and he was made to forfeit the money to the Federal Government.

The special task force operating at the Lagos international airport comprises different security agencies including EFCC, Customs, State Security Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigeria Immigration Service, and others working at the airport.

It was recently inaugurated by the Federal Government for the monitoring of the operations of security agencies, airlines and other stakeholders at the airport, at check in counters, departure screening areas and arrival halls.

Daily Trust

11 confirmed dead at explosion in church at Army base in Kaduna, Nigeria

At least 11 people have reportedly been killed after car bombs were detonated at a Protestant church inside a military barracks in Jaji in Nigeria's Kaduna State.

"A Kia-branded car drove into the church premises ... then detonated the bomb" with the driver still inside, a military officer told the Reuters news agency, asking not to be named. The first blast ocurred at around 1145GMT.

"Then an ash-coloured Toyota Camry drove in and exploded while people came to help after the first bomb. Most people died from the second blast."

Nigeria's National Emergency Agency confirmed there had been an explosion inside the barracks and said it was "likely at a worship centre".

"I saw five bodies and scores injured," a second officer told Reuters. The death toll has not yet been officially confirmed.

"There was a blast today in a church inside the military barracks in Jaji," military spokesman Colonel Sani Usman told the AFP news agency.

"It happened after the church service."

But army spokesman Bola Koleoso disagreed with earlier accounts and said a bus drove into the side of the St Andrew Military Protestant Church and exploded at around 1105GMT, five minutes after a service had started.

Uncertainty

There are different accounts of the incident, explained Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris.

"First there was a report that a huge bomb blast took place, injuring some people and killing some, probably at least five people - but this has not been independently confirmed," he reported from Nigerian capital Abuja.

"But there are other stories that say that one bomb went off, and as people gathered to see what happened, a second device went off, injuring several, and killing five people at the church.

"There is no claim of responsiblilty yet, but this comes less than 48 hours after the military issued a statement declaring at least 19 top commanders of Boko Haram 'wanted'. There was a bounty of 50 million Naira ($318,000) on the leader of the group, a man named Abubakar Shekau, and 18 other lieutenants of the group.

"This is also coming on the same day that gunmen in the northwestern state of Sokoto attacked a police station, and took away some guns and ammunition. It's not clear at the moment who carried out the attack, but all pointers, all suspicions are directed at Boko Haram. the group has been targeting churches and other military installations across northern Nigeria in the past two years."

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Lagos, said the bombing "could be a way of showing the Nigerian security services that [Boko Haram] is still strong and can still perpetrate these acts of violence".

"Obviously there will be an investigation by the military, police and security services, but it is very difficult to see what strategy the government can impose to deal with these sort of attacks," she said.

Jaji is some 30 kilometres from the state capital, Kaduna City. The state in northern Nigeria has been the target of several bomb attacks this year, including some at churches. Previous attacks have been claimed by Boko Haram, an armed group which has killed hundreds in its insurgency.

Boko Haram has claimed to be seeking an Islamic state in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer.

However, its demands have repeatedly shifted and it is believed to include various factions with differing aims, in addition to imitators and criminal gangs that carry out violence while posing as members of the group.

Al Jazeera

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Nigeria is the worst country to be born in according to the Economist Intelligence Unit

The advanced world conducts all manners of research, most times to confirm a pre-determined belief or mindset. Worse still, there are hardly global monitors to validate either the process or the outcome of such researches.

One of such researches has been conducted with Nigeria as one of the countries focused on. And the result, expectedly, is a damning verdict on Nigeria.

The country is known for many things, some good and admittedly, some bad. In recent times, there have been a number of research reports completed by international organisations and the results have not been favourable to Nigeria.

In October 2012, the African Insurance Organisation ranked Nigeria as the "Kidnap-for-Ransom Capital of the World," accounting for 25 per cent of global kidnappings. Somalia, which had been in the business of sea piracy and kidnappings long before Nigeria joined the 'league', has long been overtaken by Nigeria according to the rating. In June 2012, the Global Peace Index ranked Nigeria as the sixth most dangerous African country to live in.

Each time such results are released, it is usually followed by debates on various online platforms with many questioning the authenticity of the results.

Yesterday, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist magazine, released results of its 2013 Where-to-be-born Index. This time, Nigeria is ranked as No. 80 out of the 80 countries assessed, making it the worst country to be born in among the countries analysed. Put differently, Nigeria is the least or even the last place the sampled respondents would want to be born.

In the "Where-To-Be-Born Index" 2013, Nigeria has the lowest score of 4.74 points, placing her at the 80th position. The index ranks Switzerland as the best country to be born in with 8.22 points. The United States and Germany tie in the 16th position with 7.38 points.

Despite their strong economies, none of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) scores impressively. Among the African countries on the list, South Africa, which was ranked 53 on the list, comes first with 5.89 points followed by Algeria in the 54th position and with 5.86 points.

Nigeria is the worst place for a baby to enter the world in 2013, says the survey.

According to the EIU, the research "earnestly attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead".

Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys-how happy people say they are-to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too.

In all, the index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account. They are a mixed bunch: some are fixed factors, such as geography; others change only very slowly over time (demography, many social and cultural characteristics); and some factors depend on policies and the state of the world economy. All things considered, the socio-economic condition of a country helps to determine how satisfied or hopeful a people can be.

While the validity of the research may be a subject of intense debate among stakeholders, many believe they should serve as wake-up calls for the nation's leaders. Those who so believe argue that while the ratings may not be accurate readings of the Nigerian polity, they indeed serve as rough projections of the feelings of the Nigerians.

This Day

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