NIGERIA'S DORMANT MUSCLES (1): PRODA.

When muscles are left untested, they wither. Hence, adversity is always welcome because it offers good opportunity to discover and develop hidden strength aka dormant muscles.
In the case of Nigeria, dormant muscles are very many because so called oil boom had for too long lured Nigeria and Nigerians into criminal neglect of dormant muscles.
In this series, we shall feature Nigeria's dormant muscles hopefully so that now that the going is tough, opportunities so offered can be deliberately tapped.
The series takes off with Project Development Institute, better known as PRODA established way back in 1972 after being brought into being by edict no 11 of Eastern Nigeria 1971.
It remains an agency established to design, fabricate, assemble or erect and test pilot processes for raw materials and converting same into finished products.
PRODA has been an active agency, it is the Nigerian nation that failed to exploit to the fullest its potentials.
From the website, Henates gathered that it has over the years developed machines for peeling , depulping, frying, grating and harvesting tubers.
It has also come up with mechanised processing technology for soybeans which roasts, dehusks, separates, and grinds through micro Mill.
Also in its product portfolio is palm fruit processing plant that consists of fruit stripper, boiler,digester and oil press in addition to kernel nut fibre separator, cracker, shell separator, oil extractor and shaft palm fruit digester.
It has also developed a number of other technologies, some unrelated to process, the core focus.
For example, it developed body and glaze formulations for porcelain electrical insulations for high and low tension application on overhead electric power lines. In 1991, this project won the National science award after clinching the 1990 Academy of Science award. And that was all. Its potential, like for all other developed technologies, remain untapped.
Recent reports have it that Science and Technology Minister Ogbonaya Onu has given matching orders to PRODA to come up Nigerian made pencils.
Of course, that is because the agency has long perfected technology for processing local graphite to 90% purity for producing pots, pencils, and auto parts.
But even that order does not do justice to PRODA's long neglected potential. It is just a very limited attempt to tap into a portfolio that also includes gas heated steam cookers, variety of material size reduction machines, centrifugal water pump, drying and storage process for poultry droppings to be used as manure, coal fired furnace for cottage industries, and prototype gas and electric fired kilns already fired up to 1300oc.
The portfolio developed over about 45 years even without much encouragement is packed full and certainly calls for a more comprehensive policy direction for research focus, exploitation and utilisation in a deliberate inwards look demanded by the times Nigeria is currently in.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018: TWO BLOWS TO UNITED CAPITAL PLC.

When a child who in a previous examination scored 80%, comes home with a new report in which he now scores 67.2%, the parents have a right to sit him down and ask how come. So it must be between Nigeria's United Capital Plc and its discerning shareholders since the release of the company's 2018 audited figures. In 2018, all said and done, says the annual report, United Capital ended with 67.2 % profit margin compared to 80.2% in 2017. How come? What comes across from the figures was that the company received 2 blows to the jugular in 2018: Sharp drops in Investment income and fair value gain. Investment income dropped by 10.8% to N4422.8m from N4965.2m while fair value on financial assets plunged by 79.7% to N6.173m from 2017's N30.387m. In view of both drops, the group's gross earnings grew by only 33.9% to N9259.4m despite strong growths in net trading income, and net operating income leap to N757.5m from N143.5m  Other income streams ended with single digit increase....
Read more

KENYA AUCTIONS Ksh 13.84bn Treasury Bonds.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) will from Tuesday December 18 to 27th 2018_ auction Ksh 13.84bn worth of fixed income Treasury Bonds with issue date December 17, 2018. According to official statement from the Director of Financial Markets Irene Njiru on Monday December 17, auction will continue throughout the stated period or close once the target money to be raised is reached, whichever comes first. Bid value will be paid for at most by 2pm December 31, 2018 while auction results will be made public on December 28, 2018 after the scheduled closing date. The bonds are being issued at 12.502% fixed interest at an adjusted average price of Ksh 100.468 for Ksh 100 bond. However, price payable after auction results publication will be average of successful bid prices based and allotment will be on first come first served basis. Meanwhile, the monetary operations and debt management department has released the interest payment schedule for 13 Treasury Bonds due January and February 2019. Th...
Read more

NAIROBI SE's HIGH PRICED EQUITIES.

In the wake of Nigeria's high priced quoted companies posted in this blog a while ago, Henates took a look to at Nairobi Securities Exchange June 23 official list to identify its high priced equities and the outcome was interesting too. Of the 66 companies quoted on the market by June 23, 15 or 22.7% were valued averagely at above 30 times nominal value. A word of caution though: There are two clear differences between the Nigerian stock market list and that of Nairobi: In the Nigerian one most listed companies have par or nominal value of N0.50 as is there is an implied agreement on this. On the other hand, at Nairobi most of the equities do not share common par value, they differ greatly. Then another thing, Nigerian equities are not valued below par, Nairobi ones can and many are so valued. Of the top 15 high priced equities at the Nairobi market, Safaricom topped with because by June 23, at 23.25 Ksh average price, it was valued 465 times its nominal value of just 0.0...
Read more