Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Nigeria’s recurring oil theft crisis and pipeline vandalism is deeply tied to poverty and decades of neglect of resource-bearing communities, Prof. Felix Joseph Kio Ideriah, Professor of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer at the Rivers State University, RSU, has said.
Speaking after his public lecture titled “Reflections on Engineering Solutions for Nation Building” in Port Harcourt, Ideriah argued that addressing oil theft requires honesty, fairness, and inclusion of local communities in resource governance.
“Oil theft in Nigeria has to do with poverty,” he said. “The owners of the resources must be considered because every state has mineral resources from Sokoto to Rivers State.”
The professor, who retired after a distinguished academic career, said Nigeria’s current resource management structure undermines equity and development in the Niger Delta.
“Nigeria started with agriculture — groundnuts in the North, cocoa in the West, and palm oil in the South — and it was 50 percent derivation,” he recalled.
“When crude oil showed up, it knocked it down to one percent, and the owners whose land the crude oil is found are not considered. That’s the truth, and if you don’t solve the truth, you go nowhere.”
He stressed that effective resource management requires not only fair policies but also competent engineering oversight and proper project planning.
“First and foremost, the government must look at the feasibility of the project,” he advised. “If it’s a feasible project, then pump 100 percent of the money into it in order to get results.”
Prof. Ideriah decried the prevalence of unqualified individuals executing engineering projects across Nigeria, warning that such practices compromise infrastructure quality and national progress.
“There must be the right teaching for our engineers,” he said. “People who are not registered by COREN are doing engineering work all over the country, and that’s a problem.”
He called for the optimal engagement of Nigerian engineers to advance industrial development and technological innovation.
“We have many qualified engineers in this country,” he said. “Government should make use of them — using small steps, and then we can move to the mighty steps for mankind.”
The Vice Chancellor of Rivers State University, Prof. Isaac Zeb-Obipi, who spoke with journalists on the sidelines of the event, emphasized that universities across Nigeria possess the intellectual capacity to provide sustainable solutions to national challenges — including energy, infrastructure, and industrialization.
“Nigeria should reap from the contribution of scholars, serving and retired,” he said. “Prof. Ideriah has provided all his contributions throughout his journey as an academic and till today, his contributions are still relevant.”
He called on government and the private sector to harness the ideas and research emerging from universities.
“Anytime we have an inaugural lecture, you will find a professor providing solutions,” Zeb-Obipi noted. “That is why we encourage the federal, state, and local governments, and even industry, to tap into this body of knowledge being churned out every time.”
The RSU Vice Chancellor said the country’s academic community continues to produce practical and innovative solutions capable of transforming the nation’s economy — if only policymakers are willing to listen.
“Universities in Nigeria have what it takes to build this country,” he said. “We just need to apply the knowledge.”
The lecture, which focused on engineering solutions for nation-building, drew academics, students, and industry professionals who unanimously called for a stronger link between research, engineering practice, and policy implementation in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
