by Victor Aniefiok
As part of its Change for Sustainability (C4S) campaign, the Africa Centre of Excellence in Future Energies and Electrochemical Systems (ACE-FUELS) organised a nine-day workshop for youths on energy transition and renewable energy technologies and its role in the Nigerian economy and the environment. The workshop was organised for corps members in Batch A Stream II of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp in Eziama, Imo State. The C4S campaign is designed to equip Nigerian youths with skills to develop relevant strategies to help the nation in advancing its renewable energy agenda and through it, ACE-FUELS aims to educate and empower up to 50,000 Nigerian youths by the end of 2023.
The workshop, which was part of the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme, was a mix of classwork and hands-on training on energy management, with a specific emphasis on energy efficiency and renewable energy. As part of the hands-on training, 130 corps members were taken through the basics of solar installation, closed-circuit television (CCTV) installation, as well as other electrical installations and general maintenance.
In a similar event, and as part of activities to celebrate the NYSC’s golden jubilee, ACE-FUELS, in collaboration with the Imo State chapter of the NYSC, organised a workshop for corps members on renewable energy and sublime smart technologies in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, the Centre Leader, ACE-FUELS, Professor Emeka Oguzie, charged the youths to develop their skills in renewable energy and to be advocates for smart energy. He applauded the NYSC for its achievements in Imo State through the SAED programme as well as the NYSC’s community development service (CDS) for its role in the development of host communities and various national programmes.
Earlier, as part of efforts to deepen the existing partnership between the Imo State chapter of NYSC and ACE-FUELS within the framework of the Centre’s Change for Sustainability (C4S) campaign, State NYSC Coordinator, Mrs Rachel Ideawor, and her management team had visited ACE-FUELS. As part of the visit, the State Coordinator was given a tour of ACE-FUELS’s facilities. The visit also provided the NYSC team a clear understanding of the ideology, vision, and mission of the Centre in training a critical mass of graduates on the concepts of energy transition, renewable energy and sustainability, which is the key focus of the Centre’s C4S campaign.
Mrs Ideawor assured the Centre of her chapter’s commitment to ensuring that corps members in the state are fully engaged to actualise the goal of self-development and the transition to renewable energy.
…Marks World Environment Day
To commemorate the 2023 World Environment Day with the theme #BeatPlasticPollution, ACE-FUELS organised a campaign involving faculty and staff of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), members of the press and the host community. The campaign aimed to educate the public on biodiversity conservation and the importance of reusing and recycling as strategies for protecting the environment.
As part of the campaign, staff and students were involved in creating awareness of the significance of World Environment Day with an emphasis on the need to reconnect with nature and beat plastic pollution. Presentations were made which emphasised the need for government agencies, private organisations, and the public to take a bold stand against plastic pollution.
All resource persons advocated for an attitudinal change and the adoption of efficient methods for the disposal of plastics. High points of the event were the pledge by participants to protect the planet and a road walk to create public awareness and rid the campus of plastic waste. All waste picked up was properly packed and sorted for recycling.
