Ernest Chinwo
30 September 2008
Calabar — A don at the University of Calabar, Professor Okon Douglas Ekpa, has advocated the local production of bio-ethanol or bio-diesel as is currently being done America and Europe.
Ekpa made the call while delivering the 43rd Inaugural Lecture of the University of Calabar, Cross River State, said Nigeria has abundant raw materials from which these products could be produced. According to Ekpa, a Professor of Industrial Chemistry, bio-diesel could be produced from grains such as maize, sorghum, and millet as well as tubers such as cassava, yam, and cocoyam including sugarcane.
He described palm oil, which Nigeria has in abundance, as the most economical in the production of bio-diesel, and wondered why the country is not taking advantage of this.
Ekpa said automobile manufacturers across Europe and America from where Nigeria imports vehicles, are currently adapting their engines to meet their various countries' legislative requirements on bio-diesel use.
He warned that Nigeria may also be caught up in the importation of bio-diesel for diesel cars and trucks, just as the country is currently importing bio-ethanol for gasoline vehicles.
Ekpa observed that Malaysia which imported its first set of oil palm seedlings from Nigeria currently ranks as number one in palm oil production in the world, producing 44 per cent of total world production; followed by Indonesia, which produces 36 per cent, and Nigeria (where Malaysia got her first set of oil palm seedlings), producing a mere 6 per cent.
Ekpa reasoned that now that it is apparent that the world cannot effectively develop a sustainable bio-diesel programme without palm oil; and that it has become necessary for Nigeria to go back to the good old days when she was number one.
The don alerted Nigerian authorities that America and Europe are serious about reducing their dependence on petroleum oil to protect their economies from the instability in the Middle East and the Niger Delta region.
"By the time they are through with their bio-fuel programme, probably in the next five or seven years, if the present investment growth rate of about 40 per cent is maintained, we may wake up one morning to see the prices of petroleum oil crashing to below $30 a barrel", he said.
Ekpa warned that if care is not taken, some years from now, what happened to coal might become the fate of Nigeria's petroleum oil.
"If we cannot develop our infrastructure, build roads, rail lines, provide other basic necessities like electricity, water, food and security during this oil boom, what will happen when the sun sets" he asked.
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