Siemens Limited Nigeria has said it supported the Professor Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition to encourage innovation and creativity among Nigerian youths.
The PAADC, organised by the University of Lagos Engineering Society, is aimed at proffering indigenous solutions to the problems facing the country.
The Vice President, Power and Gas, Nigeria, Siemens, Mr Nasir Giwa, at the second edition of the competition held in UNILAG, said, “We are here to support his lofty idea, the Professor Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition. Prof. Awojobi was a great engineer and scholar; he was the first person to have DSc (Doctor of Science) in Engineering in Africa. We cannot really honour him enough.
“Personally, I feel very happy that undergraduates are the ones who came up with this idea. Coming up with the idea is one thing, the other thing that follows is the idea of innovation and creativity being encouraged among themselves.
“Our slogan in Siemens is ‘Ingenuity for life’. That resonates very well with what the students are doing. It means that if our students can come up with great ideas and designs, we can collaborate with them, and it is good for our country. So, our country will not be a consumer of technology alone. I am extremely happy this morning to see that primary and secondary school students are brought in to also share their ideas.”
Giwa said the company was committed to promoting local content in Nigeria, adding, “Our warehouse in Oshodi has been disposed off because we are now using Nigerians to assemble our products. I am happy today that we have Nigerian companies that have really lived up to expectations.
“We always say, ‘Siemens is in Nigeria for Nigerians.’ We have been here for 50 years, we have provided different kinds of support in the University of Lagos alone. In the area of training, we have a programme wherein we want to collaborate with universities, and that is why we were so eager to support his idea.
“We should not take local content to mean that we replace foreign contractor’s name with that of a Nigerian contractor but the money still goes abroad.”