President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday expressed delight over the creativity of a 25-year-old Nigerian, Jessica Matthews, who invented a power-generating football called SOCCKET ball.
Matthews, who is a co-founder and Chief
Executive Officer of Unchartedplay, was at the Presidential Villa, Abuja
to present the ball, which can generate three hours of light from 30
minutes of play to Jonathan.
She also presented an energy-generating skipping rope to the President.
While congratulating her on her
creativity and innovativeness, Jonathan said he was impressed that
Matthews, who trained as a psychologist and economist, developed herself
in the field of science.
He described her feat as a proof of the quality of human resource present in Nigeria.
The President said the invention was
useful as a major tool that could be used to mobilise young Nigerians
and encourage them to think more deeply.
Matthews said, “Sometimes power is lost
and you say what can you do to solve this situation and I saw my cousins
and everyone playing football, playing with everything not even with
football alone.
“I say this is amazing and they can
rival Messi. If we can take this kinetic that is generated here and use
it to address the issues that we really have; kinetic energy is used for
windmill, why not the ball?”
She said although the items were already on sale in New York, she had not started making them in Nigeria.
She, however, said when they would be
made available for sale in Nigeria, the cost would be equivalent to what
people pay for a solar inverter.
Minister of Trade and Investment,
Olusegun Aganga, said the Federal Government was looking at the
possibilities of manufacturing the items in Nigeria and see how to make
them cheaper for Nigerians.
He said, “Jessica is a Nigerian, she
studied at Harvard University, she went to Business School and actually
taught herself Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. So, she is an
inspiration to every Nigerian especially our children in Nigerian
universities. This is a product not only for Nigeria, but a product made
in Nigeria by a Nigerian and for the world.
“The second thing is that the product is
actually versatile, it is not just about the electricity you see, you
can use it to charge your mobile phones, for fans, so there are so many
things for which it can be used.”
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This is the potential in most Nigerians today. They were potential scientists but for the poor school background that has turned them into preachers and other fields, away from the sciences.
ReplyDeleteThis funny!!!! i wonder why Nigerians are so short sighted. There are many creative innovations by young Nigerian out there, but no platform to showcase them. here we have a football that can generate power.
ReplyDeleteMy question is this, why attract so much attention to an innovation that generates power for 3hrs after being played for 30mints.
How many individuals or homes can afford to spare the time to play a football for 30mints to generate power.
Again, how many gadgets and appliances can the power generated carry in 3 hrs.
this is what a 5yrs old child in china can create and no one will see it as a big deal.
This are questions my dumb president should ask, before making the inventor an ambassador.
This is not the technological advancement that we are looking for.
We want an innovation that can be compete favorable with those invested in the developed world.
As I speak to you, there are many Nigerians coming up with better innovations that what we are seeing, but no platform to showcase them.
Let's build a platform to bring these inventors together and mentor them.