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2021 To Be Record Year For Renewable Energy – Prof Christianah Ijagbemi

Prof. Mrs Christianah Olakitan Ijagbemi is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering (Energy & Environment) of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. She earned the first female professorial chair in the faculty of engineering of the University; the second female professor of mechanical engineering in Nigeria recently.

Her works include modeling, laboratory and field-scale studies on waste (gaseous, liquid and solid) behaviour, characterization, remedial design approaches for contaminated environments and waste treatment process optimization.

She has won many academic and professional laurels. Christianah Ijagbemi is a member of several professional bodies; national and international among which are, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, 2017 Fellow of the Schlumberger Faculty of the Future, a member of the American Society of Mechanical etc

 Engineers’ Forum in her characteristic manner had an encounter with this astounding woman of academic substance who discussed current global issues bordering on distributed energy systems, renewable energy, climate change and others. Enjoy our first female interview in the year 2021.

Congratulations on your recent promotion as a full professor of mechanical engineering by the Council of the Federal University of Technology, Akure. By this promotion, you earned the first female professorial chair in the faculty of engineering of the University; the second female professor of mechanical engineering in Nigeria. How do you feel about this achievement?

I feel grateful to the Almighty God, my family, parents, colleagues (academic & professional) and the Schlumberger Faculty for the Future for walking through the journey to becoming a professor of mechanical engineering with me. After the aforementioned, l want to say, l feel great for being able to achieve a lifetime dream of holding a professorial chair in engineering and being a role model to young girls who are afraid of picking a career in engineering.

You had a very humble beginning starting from when you gained admission to study Mechanical Engineering at the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti. Did it ever occur to you that you will get to this enviable position and what were the challenges?

High school days, l wanted to be a Nurse but my Dad discouraged me with an illustration of how l will not have enough time for my family. I consulted my mathematics teacher,  who encouraged me to pick a career in the physical sciences being the best in mathematics and physics. I sat for JAMB and chose Nursing. I was admitted for a Bachelor’s in Nursing but my father refused to sponsor me, hence, l went to Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti to submit my WAEC result at the Mechanical Engineering Department, just not to stay at home and to win back my father’s heart who did not like nursing. I was admitted to Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti to study Mechanical

Engineering. I was not happy with it but my Dad did celebrate.

I started the OND programme but wasn’t studying, l sat for examinations unprepared because l wanted to fail, to prove to my Dad l cannot cope with the course. At the release of the first session results, l passed all courses but still not serious till the end of the program, when l bagged the OND. The path of my mathematics teacher and I crossed again,  l told him my story and he advised l should pursue the study of Mechanical Engineering because my strengths are in the physical sciences and that he was sure l will do very well. I adhered to his advice, pick-up an undying love for mechanical engineering and the story changed. I began to top my classes all through to PhD. I decided to live in the engineering world,  be an ambassador of mechanical engineering, speak mechanical engineering and live mechanical engineering.

There were lots of challenges but they were the wheels that spurred me on. I hate with a passion the phrase “you cannot do this because you are a woman“. Initially, l used to be annoyed when l hear such, later on, l took it as a challenge l must prove to be wrong. Therefore, l love to hear….you cannot….  To mention a few, so many have told me to drop engineering because l am a woman and that mechanical engineering is for men. I was once asked how l will work in a mechanical engineering workshop as a pregnant woman. I said, machine handling equipment does not respond to a protruding stomach (male or female) to operate but your hands and expertise.  Lots of challenges but at this junction, l want to affirm that, mechanical engineering is for girls too.

Let talk about your research biases, Energy and Environment. You bagged a PhD in Remediation Engineering at Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, South- Korea in 2010. What quickly came to mind is the environmental damage caused by the oil spill in the Niger Delta region and several degraded illegal mining sites across the nation. What remediation systems should be used to treat these levels of environmental degradation?

It is expected that crude oil and petroleum products demand will continuously increase until renewable energy is affordable in Nigeria. Hence, the water and soil pollution resulting from marine and terrestrial spillages in the Niger- Delta region of Nigeria. It has become importantly necessary to employ appropriate remediation methods for tackling the menace to have a benign environment in the Niger-Delta.

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Major oil spills clean-up methods are of physical, chemical, thermal and biological processes. I want to say the current remediation technologies for oil spills in the Niger-Delta region includes the use of booms, skimmers, absorbents, dispersants, in-situ heating and bioremediation are much appreciated. These techniques depend on the amount, area and type of spillage. Government regulations have to be strictly enforced in the Niger Delta to help preserve our farmlands and save our people. Our Government – Federal and states need to do more in this area.

The global community is talking about decarbonization and the focus is now on energy transition through renewable alternative. Is the western world not dragging Africa into this?

Not at all, Africa is, and will continue to be part of the world energy transition programme. Our continent seems okay at present on carbon emissions but we need to take the preventive route to save Africa from serious effects of climate change caused by daily mining and industrial footprints on our environment. The primary sources of energy are petroleum, coal and natural gas which are fossil fuels.

Until the transition to renewable is successful, processing of fossil will be on the increase as energy demands escalate day by day. Studies in 2014 revealed a massive coal deposit in Africa’s central Congo Basin. This is about 20 years’ worth of U.S. fossil fuel emissions in terms of carbon, probably the largest in global tropics.  If nothing is done about the deposit, Central Africa may not be too safe in the nearest future. In South Africa, coal-fired power stations are still very actively run in the eastern part leading to soil and water pollution as well as carbon emissions to the atmosphere.

The effects of the releases are evident all through the central and eastern parts of South Africa. Residents in the regions have sued the government over the pollution caused by the companies, urging the government to act to curb emissions. Here in Nigeria, exploration and exploitation of minerals at shallow depths like coal have caused serious environmental pollution of water bodies, farmlands and humans in Enugu and its environs. Decarbonization is what we must all embrace.

During 2020 Covid-19 pandemic lockdown there was a significant global reduction in carbon emissions because the industries were shut down, planes were not flying and most vehicles were off the roads. Did Covid-19 open our eyes to the negative impact of fossil fuels on our ecosystem?

The covid-19 pandemic came with lockdown measures in many countries leading to halting of economic activities in 2020. The effect of the lockdown disrupted processing of fossil fuel and as well stemmed in a reduction in fuel demands by over 10% in the same year. Like other industries, renewables are exposed to new risks from Covid-19, varying significantly by market sector and technology.

The awareness of the negative effects of processing fossil fuels has been with us for a while. The Montreal, 1987 and Kyoto, 1997 were global protocols for addressing the menace of carbon emissions. The good news of a reduction in carbon emissions due to covid-19 is very welcoming because about 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases (carbon compounds/constituents) are emitted to the atmosphere yearly. Developed countries (industrialized) are working towards further reduction of carbon emissions from 55% to 40%. This was sealed in an agreement ratified in Paris in 2015 by 55 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), accounting for 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The treaty was to reduce global temperature increase by 2 degrees Celsius in this century and reduce greenhouse gases emissions to zero by 2050. The agreement highlights pathways on how developed countries can harness efforts to assist developing countries to create a framework to mitigate the negative effect of climate change.

Nigeria as a country is not doing enough in her efforts on the regulation of carbon emissions. Industrial set-ups and vehicles on our roads daily emit volumes of carbon while we flare hydrocarbons and CFC gases repairing cooling systems. There should be strict adherence to standards and enforcement of environmental safety regulations.

The global fossil fuel market crashed in 2020 portending a great danger to nations like ours and at the same time, America and EU experienced a spike in the deployment of solar and wind energy technology. It is projected that by 2030, the world energy need will shift from fossil to green energy especially as more nations adopt Electric Vehicles and hydrogen fuel. Do you think Nigeria is ready because our economy mainstay is hydrocarbon?

Nigeria is blessed with enormous green energy resources and therefore, set to generate 30 % of its total energy from renewable sources by 2030. The country has invested billions of dollars to boost national grid capacity through solar energy. There are other efforts of the government in transiting Nigeria to a climate-friendly country. Recently, the country welcomed the assembling of Electric Vehicles (EV) which operate on rechargeable batteries, hence, do not emit carbon monoxide like fossil-powered vehicles. The challenges of high cost, regular and adequate power supply may contribute to having many of these EVs on our roads.

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I believe Nigeria and Africa at large, can join the rest of the world in advancing to EVs but for our ailing infrastructure calling for urgent attention and smart technology solutions.

With the surge in Distributed Energy Resources and renewables, I want you to make predictions for 2021 in terms of energy efficiency and technology deployment globally and with particular respect to Nigeria.

2021 is expected to be another record year for renewable energy. Green energy capacity additions are programmed to achieving appreciable growth in the sector. Globally, the leading tech companies are championing the expansion initiatives needed to improve availability and affordability.

With countries all over the world easing the lockdown measures, the impacts of the pandemic are still very glaring with supply chain disruption and delays in project management. These, in turn, have a huge impact on the start-up of renewable projects, facilities and investments. Restrictions on business activities travel and border closures have sharply reduced energy demand, decreasing the consumption of green energy. Hence, green energy capacity and technology deployment will gradually pick up in the first quarter (Q1) and may have a steady growth come Q2, Q3 and Q4 respectively.

Nigeria is expected to have a similar experience with our efforts to seeking green alternatives to our fossil fuel dependency.

In your active academic pursuit, you have mentored a lot of students, lecturers and junior colleagues who have become senior academics. You and many other female achievers are being looked upon as sources of inspiration to the girl child. Can you conveniently say the girl child gap that existed against her in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been closed?

The gap in girls’ enrollment for STEM careers is closing up gradually in sciences but still wide in some aspects of STEM, such as Engineering. Women participation in engineering is biased due to socio-cultural, economic and

environmental issues. More than two-thirds of illiterates in Nigeria are women. The African culture generally inhibits young girls from aspiring as high as boys especially in what is considered as ‘male exclusive’ field – Engineering. Professions that have large numbers of females like Law, Medicine, Education and Social Sciences have shown remarkable progress – not only in Nigeria but in other countries of the world.

Female enrollment for engineering programmes are extremely low in Nigeria, which calls for urgent attention since women are needed in the field not only for gender issue but for their participation in infrastructure development. This may even encourage their wards to pick engineering as a career as they are much closer to the children than men.

In the western world too, this ratio of men to women in engineering has been climbing

very slowly and at best nearly at par.  Researchers in the field have identified a variety of sociological, psychological, institutional and economic factors which interact in complex ways to deter young ladies from pursuing careers in engineering. Some of these factors are learner factors such as attribution style, interest and mathematics anxiety. Environmental factors such as parents attitude, teachers attitude, teaching methods, student-teacher interaction, lack of female role models, competing family responsibilities and feelings of isolation are also indicated as having negative effects on a girl child interest in STEM.

Demographic and Economic factors such as cohort size, family income and rate of return are proposed by educational economists as possible explanations for parents’ decision about higher education for their girl child.

In recent past, especially in Nigeria, extending access to studies in engineering education and training to girls is often difficult when families face economic challenges, they prefer to invest their limited resources in the education of males rather than provide what is considered as ‘prestigious’ education – engineering for females who would eventually marry and sometimes abandon their profession.

Nevertheless, these girls are increasingly getting some limited education, making the focus of concern gradually shift to providing access to the same range of engineering education to girls. The global policy of today is more supportive of measures designed, to expand the educational horizons of girls than it was forty years ago.

One of your hobbies is driving (smile). What is it like to drive on Nigerian roads and do you have any preference for any vehicle?

The roads are bad but l do drive. My vehicle preference is SUV.

 

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