Chima Ugwuanyi
23 October 2012, Sweetcrude, Enugu – A team of engineers numbering over 600, including student-engineers from Nigerian Universities, rose from their 3-day Energy Summit, friday, led by the Vice Chairmam of the Enugu State Chapter of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Alukwe and stormed the Research Site of Mr. Sebastine C. Omeh, the ingenious Inventor of Wind energy at Emene Enugu, to see things for themselves.
While receiving the team of engineers, Mr. Omeh disclosed that the model he had just concluded with, was able to generate 75 kilowatts of electricity at a height or altitude of 15 metres, adding that the next one he was going into, would operate at an altitude of 46 metres with Power generation capacity of 200 kilowatts.
The wind energy engineer fielded many incisive questions from the team, especially the student engineers, as he took them round the site located on the large expanse of land, measuring about 3.2 acres.
He recounted how he had ventured into self employment based on his knowledge of his field of study and the desire to help ‘better’ the lives of Nigerians in their need of electricity in both the rural and urban settings, for improved economic and social life.
Omeh recalled how he had initially taken up repairs and maintenance, and even fabrication of Radio and Television Communication equipment, before eventually getting inspired to beam research lights on the wind energy technology, which took him to various places for data collection, such as Nigerian Airports and the Internet.
He said “some Nigerian airports were of help, while some were not. When I noticed that officials of most Nigerian Airports were not liberal enough to upload the wind data they kept, for me to access and draw my conclusions, I resorted to the Internet.”
Mr Omeh thanked the leader of the delegation, Mr Alukwe and the entire team for visiting his company, not minding the windy, muddy road that led to the place.
Alukwe, commended Mr. Omeh for his research efforts, thanking God for sustaining him (Omeh) with strength, courage, sense of direction, presence of mind and perseverance, as well as providing him with the economic resources to sustain the research.
Alukwe, who was visibly thrilled by what he saw on ground, advised Nigerian Engineers to emulate Omeh, adding, “if every other Engineer in Nigeria should have this spirit to enter into a lonely bush like this place, on research, Nigeria, will, in no distant time measure with Japan, China or even America.”
He told the enraptured crowd of engineers that the colleague of theirs they were seeing, Mr. Omeh, Managing Director of Hybrid Micro Machines Limited, was the Michael Faraday of Nigeria of today’s Nigeria, as far as he (Alukwe) was concerned and bemoaned the attitude of most Nigerian Engineers, who now veer off their fine profession into politics, to chase after the luxuries that go with it; throw away their industrial aprons in preference for suits and ties, air conditioned offices and so on.
