Dollars from the Dustbin. (by Ifeoma Comfort Ndefo)

Nigeria is a country blessed with rich natural and material resources. Imagine that even the waste products generated from the enormous human activity of a population of over 160 million people could be used to generate electricity, create jobs and wealth; using the Biogas  technology.

Picture of Refuse Dump by Ifeoma Ndefo

 In a seminar recently organized by the Environmental Biotechnology Department of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), a Nigerian expert on Biogas, living in the USA, Dr Felix Afumuzo Ukponu, President and CEO of Hermesmann L.L.C, USA, explained that Biogas is one of today’s cheapest and safest renewable energies. It is produced from plants, animals, and human waste. Substrates from refuse dumps are important raw materials for the production of electricity, useful for small generator fuels and cooking gas at exceedingly low prices.

According to Ukponu, Biogas is a mixture of sixty percent methane and about 30-40% carbon-dioxide. It contains about 60% methane that can be used to generate electricity or used for heat or for fuel for vehicles. Any animal manure, human sewage or food waste will produce methane during anaerobic digestion.
Biogas can be "cleaned" to yield purified methane that can be used in the natural gas pipelines. Methane from biogas is an excellent alternative energy source. Using methane for energy helps the environment by replacing the use of non-renewable fossil fuels with renewable energy and by taking the methane out of the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas that has 21 times the
heating effect as carbon dioxide. Biogas methane is renewable unlike natural gas which is mined from underground wells and is a non-renewable fossil fuel.

As world economic powers shift the pendulum of global oil business from fossil fuel to more environmentally friendly alternatives like Biogas, major oil dependent economies like Nigeria are faced with the challenge to restrategise to evolve new energy forms and sources that offer comparative and competitive advantages.

Dr Afumuzo Ukponu , reiterated that agricultural products like corn serves as veritable raw materials for the process. He also added that the enormous wastes littering and polluting our environment are potential raw materials for Biogas, capable of creating plum jobs for numerous unemployed youths in Nigeria.

In her response, the Director- General, NABDA, Prof (Mrs.) Lucy J. Ogbadu, described the Biogas technology as simple and applicable within the Agency. She stated that

inspite of the prospect of supplying environmentally friendly electricity for NABDA and surrounding communities; the Biogas project would provide the much needed technology transfer and capacity building for young NABDA scientific officers. She therefore, affirmed NABDA’s interest in collaborating with Hermesmann L.L.C, USA on the Biogas project.

Biotechnology Solutions for today's problems

Whenever and however the war on the dreaded Ebola virus is won; the roles and impact of biotechnology tools and medicines used for fighting the scourge will always be remembered.

 Zmapp, an experimental drug belonging to a US Biotechnology Company, Mapp Biopharmaceutical Incorporated, administered to two American medical missionaries, Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol infected in Liberia, was the first to offer a ray of hope that the Ebola disease was not a death sentence afterall; as the patients recovered and returned to their families and normal lives.

The serum, never tested on humans before, was administered to the two Americans within 7-10 days of their exposure to the virus, broke the jinx of helplessness, and demystified the disease said to be without a known cure.

 As casualty rates increased to over 1000 lives in West Africa and leaving many more infected, the World Health Organisation( WHO) panel of medical ethics experts ruled that it was ethical to administer unproven drugs or vaccines to people infected with, or at risk of, Ebola virus.

Consequently, the requests for Zmapp and similar experimental drugs rose beyond possible supply limits. The US government’s announcement of insufficient doses of Zmapp to meet demand of affected West African countries was viewed by some people as an attempt by the West to withhold help from poor African countries.

However, whatever the arguments or questions, the Ebola scourge, certainly, tells a story, sends a message and teaches a lesson. It simply shows that in a world that has become a global village, good and bad exchanges occur. Diseases and disasters can penetrate borders and permeate boundaries. Epidemics have potentials of occurring in different parts of the globe within the same time.

 As a result, no one would leave the smoke sprouting in his house to come and put out the fire in another man’s house. Africa should as a matter of urgency grow to live up to the expectation of her survival and sustainability.

 It is time to take advantage of new science and technology that proffer solutions for today’s problem s. The Biotechnology experimental drug in the treatment of infected victims of the Ebola virus is phenomenal. As a set of techniques that employ organisms, or parts of it, to make or modify products; Biotechnology is applicable in Agriculture, Medicine, Environment, and Industry.

It behoves on the poor countries of Africa to copy these technologies that make the West the strong and developed entities that they are today. And a stitch in time, they say, saves nine. (Written by Ifeoma Comfort Ndefo)

NABDA Ebola Testing Kit

In a concerted effort to join in the war waged by the Federal Government of Nigeria against the dreaded Ebola virus, the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology through her National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), in collaboration with Bioneer Corporation of South Korea, recently, presented to stakeholders and Nigerian scientists a new Ebola Molecular Diagnostic kit.

The kit showcased at the workshop on Molecular Diagnosis and Treatment of Hemorrhagic and zoonotic Viral Diseases, recently organised by NABDA in Abuja, is a faster and more effective facility for testing blood samples of patients, with optimum safety standards.

In his opening remarks, the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology,        Dr Abdu Bulama reiterated the high premium placed on eradication of the deadly ebola disease from Nigeria, and commended NABDA’s proactive step in providing formidable scientific solution in the fight against the Ebola scourge.

Furthermore, the Director-General NABDA, Prof(Mrs) Lucy Jumeyi  Ogbadu explained that as soon as the genome of the Ebola Virus was sequenced and published on the internet in March 2014, the Agency commenced work on possible biotechnology and scientific interventions in the prevention and control of the spread of the disease in Nigeria.

She added that if not for the unfortunate sudden entrance of the infected Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, into the country; the initiative taken by NABDA to constitute a multidisciplinary and multi – agency science based solutions would have been in place before the disease appeared in Nigeria.

Similarly, Prof Abdusalami Nasidi, DG National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), narrated the journey so far in curbing the spread of the disease in Nigeria, alluding that with fervency and commitment shown so far by the federal government of Nigeria, the country would likely eradicate the disease in a few weeks.   (Written by Ifeoma Comfort Ndefo)