News

The emergence of a journal published by the Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAEng) and titled INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS IN ENGINEERING (ISIE) is a welcome development. The aim is to document developments in engineering which are classify as sufficiently innovative in solving diverse practical problems in Agriculture, Electricity, Energy, Transportation, Water Management, Automation, Engineering Policy and Education and any other engineering field. The goal is to identify and publicize engineering solutions from which entrepreneurs can spring out to setup entities that create jobs to reduce the growing challenge of youth unemployment. The time to start is now.
NAEng is motivated in this effort by the quantum of very promising research projects carried out in Nigerian Universities and Research Institutions which end up on the shelves of libraries while citizens proudly import match sticks from abroad. ISIE is focused on creating entrepreneurs from abandoned and current innovative research outcomes by publicizing such outstanding results which can be deployed to solve diverse societal problems for the common good. This maiden edition of ISIE is a good start but definitely far from the vision of NAEng which seeks to engender entrepreneurial development through deliberate efforts at identifying, selecting and publicizing commercially sustainable research results. Ubiquitous possibilities exist in this area.
Furthermore, the pattern of response by authors to this maiden edition exhibits a very encouraging trend. Of the eight papers selected for publication, four are either wholly from the diaspora or in collaboration with a home-based researcher.
The four papers discussed innovative techniques in resolving challenges in engineering education, Parameter Estimation, Financial Evaluation of Large Water Projects as well as application of optimization to Electricity Market Operations and Power Systems Control. In the same vein, the first of the four papers from the home-based authors present Trending Techniques in Reservoir Sedimentation Modelling and Prediction of Project Lifetime while the second examined Innovations in Water and Environmental Infrastructures for modern living. The third paper on Power Quality aims at resolving the emerging controversy in the perfection of future GENCO-DISCO contracts regarding the right specification for the “commodity” power while the fourth paper attempts to structure the chaos surrounding the therapy and management of one of the most devastating natural sicknesses plaguing Africa- Sickle Cell Anemia. Many of the papers submitted for publication contain sufficiently new information but are insufficiently researched.
The only letter to the editor discusses Hydrogen - Hydrogen - Oxygen (HHO) technology which is currently trending the world over. Its application appears more relevant to Nigeria than most other climes. This contribution is the nearest to commercial implementation with prototype designs shown and a few functional tests conducted.
The final goal is to institute an annual discourse (colloquium or conference) from which delivered and discussed papers will be selected to make the journal. The identified papers and their results will also form the nucleus of government engagement by the Academy.