Being the  fifth and concluding  instalment of an inaugural lecture delivered  by Lawson Olabosipo Adekoya, Professor of Mechanical Engineering,  at Oduduwa Hall, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife

By PROF. LAWSON ADEKOYA

ALL the tractors used were David Brown tractors. David Brown tractors were chosen for the study because they are popular and are among the first tractors to be imported into the country. The data were collected on a total of 144 tractors made up of the following numbers of different models: 50 DB 885, 56 DB 990 and 38 DB 1290. The data were made up mainly of the cost of disassembly, replacement and reconditioning of parts or units.

When these repair and maintenance costs (as a percentage of initial purchase price) were averaged over the years, the mean values of 10.94, 6.16 and 4.93 per cent were obtained for DB 885, DB 990 and DB1290 respectively with an average maintenance cost of 7.3 per cent of the cost price of the tractors. Comparison of this value (i.e. 7.3 per cent) with values from previous work by Beppler and Hummeida (1985) shows that the (Nigerian) result averages 2-5.5 times the US and European values.

Prof. Lawson Olabosipo Adekoya

The result astounded us because tractors in Nigeria have an annual use of only about 500h (Food and Agriculture Organization, 1977). This number of hours of use is very low when compared with those for Europe and America. However, the higher maintenance costs for Nigeria could be explained by the high cost of imported spare parts, and the failure of most local tractor operators to carry out regular routine maintenance on the tractors, leading to frequent breakdowns which then necessitated repairs. Repairs also become necessary when the tractors are misused or abused by being used for jobs that they were not designed for. Given the fact that the data from the workshops did not include the cost of the routine maintenance carried out (on-site) by the tractor operators, the true cost of maintenance of agricultural tractors in Nigeria is probably higher than that obtained from the research.

Pumps: Pumps are machines used whenever water or some other liquid is to be raised from one level to another, taken from one tank to another, or circulated in a closed system. In all cases. energy is required to drive the pump in order to overcome the increase in level and/or friction in the pipes and fittings. Pumps are second only to electric motors in the number of units in use worldwide. They have wide applications in water supply, sewage disposal, drainage, irrigation, fire services, chemical industry, petroleum industry, pulp and paper mills, food and beverage industries, mining, steel mills, hydraulic presses, refrigeration, heating and air conditioning, nuclear services, metering, solids pumping, and marine services.

A project that I am very proud to have been associated with was the Customised Training Workshops for Engineers and Technologists who were the staff of Water Corporations in Nigeria. The project was carried out under the National Water Supply Training Network of the National Water Rehabilitation Project, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development, Abuja, from 1997 to 2002. It was coordinated by the National Centre for Water Resources, Kaduna. I was zoned to Southwest Nigeria. The training programme was preceded by the writing of a training manual titled “Training Guide for Pump Design and Selection: Course Code 1010” (Adekoya and Hart, 1997).

Challenges of machine development in Nigeria

In 1988/89, I was a part of a team that carried out a nation-wide survey of the status and challenges of agricultural and food machinery manufacture in Nigeria (Ngoddy et al, 1989). The survey showed that machines were being produced in Nigeria by four categories of organisations. These were (i) Research and Development Institutions mainly located in the engineering departments/faculties of the Research Institutes, Universities and Polytechnics. Many of them only produced, on order, prototypes of machines developed by them. Quantitatively, output was very small.

Qualitatively, many of the prototypes being fabricated on demand still needed further development or value analysis for industrial application. (ii) Established manufacturers capable of undertaking machine development i.e. design (including value analysis), production and testing. (iii) Cottage “manufacturers” which were credited with demonstrated ability to copy prototypes and/or commercial equipment with reasonable precision. (iv) Roadside “manufacturers”, a group made up of all fabricators outside the preceding three categories.

The challenges being faced by machinery manufacturers were identified to include shortage of funds, lack of workshop or factory machinery and/or spare parts, high cost of production inputs, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of skilled manpower in design (especially value analysis), foundry, etc, and lack of adequate patronage.

It was concluded that for machinery manufacture to blossom in Nigeria, the country needed many established manufacturers who can take the prototypes developed by the R&D Institutions and carry out thorough value analysis or design for manufacture on them. One such company was Addis Engineering Limited, Isolo Industrial Estate, Lagos.

The company took a licence on the patent on “Device for mashing food” based on the principle of a machine developed then by Dr. Makanjuola (now Emeritus Professor) of the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering of this University, and carried out further development (value analysis) of the idea to produce the highly successful yam pounding machine (Plate 15).

All over the world, academics in machine development traditionally stop their researches at the prototype stage. This is partly due to the pressure of “publish or perish” syndrome in the universities. Most university researchers prefer to publish the results of prototype development instead of waiting till the end of “marketable product” stage.

The ideas or principles of these machines are then further refined by the R&D Sections of manufacturing companies, such as Addis. Engineering Limited in Nigeria and John Deere Incorporated (Moline, Illinois) USA. These companies have the capacity to take the ideas generated in universities and develop them into marketable products. To ensure that the university and researchers get rewarded, the ideas need to be patented.

Thereafter, the patents are licensed or outrightly sold to the manufacturers. What we lack in this country are the companies that are capable of carrying out value analyses on university prototypes. Until we have such companies, machine prototypes developed in universities and other R&D institutions will continue to gather dust.

My contributions to the development of engineering in Nigeria:  Mr. Vice-Chancellor, the three major activities of an academic are Teaching, Research and Community Service. I have spent the last 38 years of my life doing all the above with respect to the development of engineering in Nigeria.  I have trained many generations of students in this University, and also at University of Lagos, Akoka; Covenant University, Ota; University of Ibadan, Ibadan; and Federal University of Technology, Akure; during my academic forays to those institutions as Visiting Professor or Adjunct Professor. Many of these former students are now established as professional engineers in the public and private sectors such as government agencies, oil and gas companies, manufacturing companies and universities in Nigeria and abroad.

Manufacturing

companies

In academics, some of my former students have become professors both here and in other universities in Nigeria and abroad. As a matter of fact, two of my former students have not only become professors in this University, they have already delivered their inaugural lectures!

Administratively, I have had the opportunity of holding some positions of responsibility in the university. These include Head, Department of Agricultural Engineering (1991-1993); Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering (1995-1998, 2000-2003); Vice-Dean, Faculty of Technology (1997-1998); (Editor, Ife Journal of Technology (2001-2007); Director, Central Technological Laboratories and Workshop, CTLW (2004-2007); and Director, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office, IPTTO (2006-2012). I have served in various committees at the departmental, faculty and university levels.

In 1995, I transferred my services to the Department of Mechanical Engineering in order to assist in alleviating the problem of chronic shortage of academic staff in that department. Before that date and for some years after, some young graduates of the department were recruited and sponsored abroad for further studies before and after 1995. As I stand before you today, there are at least five academic staff of the department with Ph.Ds who have refused to return to the country after their studies in overseas universities in Europe and America.

One of my significant contributions to the department is the initiation of the take-off of the postgraduate programme in 2002 during my second term as Head of Department. The programme had been approved by Senate since 1987, but could not take off because of the shortage of suitable academic staff. It was started, against all odds, by only two academic staff: my humble self and Prof. O. O. Mojola. The programme has since produced Ph.D and M.Sc. holders, even as staff of the department. Through this singular act of starting the postgraduate programme, the problem of staff going abroad and not returning to the department was finally resolved.

Beyond this university, I have contributed my quota to national development through consultancies, human resource training and mentoring. I have been a member of several COREN and NUC Accreditation Teams to the Faculties of Engineering of Nigerian Universities including University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1991); University of Ibadan, Ibadan (1999); Federal University of Technology, Minna (2004); Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi (2005); Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (2005); Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi (2005); and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (2012).

I have served as External Examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Mechanical and Agricultural Engineering at several Nigerian Universities including University of Lagos, Akoka; University of Ibadan, Ibadan; Federal University of Technology, Akure; Federal University of Technology, Minna; Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi; and Federal  University of Agriculture, Abeokuta; and as Visiting Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Federal University of Technology, Akure (1999, 2010); University of Lagos, Akoka (1999-2000); and University of Ibadan (2007-2009).

I have been very active in my professional organisations. I have held and still hold many positions of responsibility in these organisations including Secretary, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Ile-Ife Branch (1985-1987), Examiner, Ile-Ife Examination Centre of the NSE (1988-2010), and Chairman, NSE Ile-Ife Branch (2004-2006). At the national level, I was Member, Engineering and Environment Committee (1987); Member, Investigation and Failure Analysis Committee (1991-1992); and currently Member, Continuing Education and Training Committee (2008-Date); Member: Engineering, Technology and Innovation Committee (2013-Date); Chief Examiner, Ile-Ife Examination Centre of the NSE (2010-Date); and Member, Monitoring Action Group on Agriculture, Water and Environment (2014-Date).

Professionally, I have served as an engineering expert in many capacities including as Consultant, National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilorin (1986-1989); Resource Trainer, National Water Supply Training Network of the National Water Rehabilitation Project, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development, Abuja (1997-2002); Consultant, National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), Abuja (1998-1999); Consultant, Root and Tuber Expansion Programme, Federal Department of Agriculture, Ijebu-Ife (2001); and Consultant, Waste-to-Energy Project, Government of the State of Osun/Solargy Systems Africa (Nigeria) Limited (2013-Date). Plate 16 shows a typical waste-to-energy plant for converting municipal solid waste (MSW) to electricity by the incineration of the MSW.

My professional constituency has responded positively to these contributions. Consequently, I am a COREN-Registered Engineer; Fellow, Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers (FNIAE); Fellow, Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FNIMechE); Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Engineering (FAEng.).

Conclusions and recommendations: Mr. Vice-Chancellor, this inaugural lecture has been, in the main, a catalogue of some of my research activities. I have succeeded in carrying out the development of some machines that were subsequently commercialised and are therefore contributing to the improvement of the living standard of man. Others have potentials of being adopted. I have contributed to the development of the engineering profession through consultancies, human resource training, mentoring and active participation in the activities of my professional bodies.

I will end this Inaugural Lecture with a simple question and a corresponding simple answer. The question is “if man minusmachines equals a labourer, what then is man plus machines?” My simple answer is that “man plus machines equals a productive worker”! Therefore, my charge to employers (including this university) is that they should always provide their workers with the necessary machines/tools needed on the job. If and when that is done, it will be incumbent on the workers as operators/users of the machines/tools to operate them correctly and ensure that they are properly and regularly maintained. In this way, they will get long years of satisfactory performances from their machines/tools.

Acknowledgements: Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I thank the Almighty God for seeing me through my academic voyage and making it possible for me to finally present this inaugural lecture today. The date had been changed three times due to intramural and extraneous exigencies!

I thank the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering for giving me an appointment in 1976, and the University for sponsoring me to the US for my Master and Doctoral studies from 1977 to 1982. I also thank the University for allowing me to transfer to the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1995. These experiences have positively impacted my life.