With the news about the 4 Nigerian girls that created a urine powered generator that went viral, i had to revisit this article and share it beyond the storage of my personal computer to people that share similar aggression and interest.
I don’t really have an excuse for not publishing this article as at when due. I know its still not late to share this with you ?
My problem is what happens after the attention, all the media buzz and the hype that this invention has attracted, is there any follow up? Or does it just end as one of those wonderful stories on ‘NTA Newsline? How do the relevant stakeholders manage those young talents and inventions? To mentor, track their progress and build them to create products that would be of commercial or national value to the Nigerian populace ? we have a lot of inventors and geeks in the country that if properly nurtured and groomed would help preserve the future of tech start-up activities and growth in this country, i want to believe a lot of those who by street credibility and resilience developed their skill and obsessions are the ones making it at computer village (our silicon valley).
so let’s start from the beginning, growing up and elementary school days was really fun for me, full of creative activities such as making of products, dismantling toys, making local toys creating games building electronic toys, kite,” borris”, painting and drawing, drums, guitar and other musical instruments, the telephone made from peak milk tin and the tape in cassette, paper marsh, carton TV, with stories, comics and storybooks, molding and making of items with clay and the list goes on and on. raw materials for us included, clay, sand, paper, pencil, crayon, cardboard matchbox, tin containers, some little metal scrap, wood, nylon and I remember very well those days in primary and secondary schools where we had school clubs of different types comprising of the social clubs, the jet clubs, debaters club, press club, math’s club, drama clubs etc. students capitalized on this clubs back then to further polish their individual abilities as it relates to their interest and future aspiration. the club that excited me the most was the JET club, I really desired to join that club when I was in junior high but I had very low interest in science related activities event though i had flair for creativity, innovation and inventions. i was thrilled by the practical work of my fellow students who were members of jet clubs. some of their inventions spurred the creativity in me and the urge to also do my own practical work, i started with what i new how to use best were; colors, pen, crayons, water and poster colors, papers, mud, cardboard, scissors, razor blade, glue, stapler etc. Let me not bore you with that now, I would tell you the result of my own practical work later. So, back to my fascination; back then we had brilliant and blessed kids that could attempt to do incredible stuff at that age. The jet clubs worked on amazing projects, they innovate as well as invent their own toys and appliances e.g electronic fan, electronic toy cars, toy helicopters, mini robot. For me the jet club was the most creative club in school, no wonder I was a great fan.
in fact, there were competitions and exhibitions done by different schools at different levels to promote and encourage the activities of some of this clubs, but how far has that brought us as a nation or society ? my aggression has finally been channeled as a question to whom it may concern ‘what happened to our jet clubs’, what happened to those brilliant, smart and bright students? What happened to our future bill gates, rg lotonio, steve jobs, emerson, eistein. Who killed them, who disabled them? (them; dreams, invention, ideas and obsession) Who killed the economy, who disabled the employers of tomorrow, who paralyzed the gifts and talents that were born to cause the IT breakthrough and transformation Africa would have been experiencing, the people that would have been blazing the trail in this technology driven age. I strongly believe all hope is not lost.
Below are some of the creative things i did as a child. I know I share this experience with a couple of children that fall into my generation.
Some of my practical works included;
Making of cars with soap case and later advancing to carton box for bigger cars and trucks and cars, and later with technicality we stepped up to using wood and tin containers.
I also produced a lot paper marsh work, plates, cups, spoons
I also molded a lot of things with clay including; cars and motor cycles, the regular TV and radio we all made. At some point we (my brothers and I) started molding advance shapes and objects including human beings and animals.
Attempted creating a motor radio powered electric toy car
I made a wooden guitar using bicycle break wires as strings.
I was artistic I did a lot of sketching, drawing and painting while growing up
I also produced and recorded a couple of songs into tape and made an album another fascinating creation was the TV in a box 2types d light and shadow thing in a darkroom and d roll up paper type in a box.
Building a toy car called “borris”, produced Paper decorations, our seating room at christmas and new year was a sight to behold
Back then our creations/inventions dint rock the papers or TV stations, but some incredible and outstanding works actually did gain attention of family and friends.
Enough of my story, there are millions of Nigerian children and youths with creations and inventions but no platform of expression or nuturing. If JetClubs were still existing we might have gone far with domestic manufacturing, better industrial activities and inventions or innovations. Perhaps we would have had more proudly made in Nigerian product stories. We undermined the ripple effect of JetClubs to the future we have found ourselves in. Even if those experimental products can’t be used for other puporses atleast they would have been used as children toys may be that would have been the begining of made in Nigerian toys. NTA children Expo is trying to bridge the gap and bring to light what represented JetClubs in the past but it just can’t be like it.
God Bless Nigeria
Stephen Akanmu 