By Abubakar Baba Ahmad.
Five Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University ATBU Engineering Students have won over five million Naira in three National and Local Hackathon research and innovative competitions in the preceding year.
The Acting Director of Research, Innovation and Development RI&D of the institution Dr Isa Yakub Mohammed stated this while presenting the students and the price money to the Vice Chancellor of the University at a 2-Day Workshop on National Research Fund NRF Proposal Development for selected Academics.
Dr Isa Mohammed said the students who worked on Waste Valourisation of Orange peels to produce different products such as insecticides using green technology, came first in the Abba Aliyu Foundation -Dabo Hackathon 2025 competition with a five million naira price money.
” The idea centers generally on the waste valorization, particularly the citrus, that is the orange peels. So from orange peel, we can be able to get different products out of it. Number one, which is limonin, which can be used as what we call insecticides.”
“Then after the removal of that, what we make of the residue, and that’s why we carbonize it using green technology, and that’s what gives the project edge to be selected as one of the best projects so far among the universities in Nigeria”, Dr Isa states.
He further disclosed that the same set of students won three hundred thousand naira in the National Green Energy Innovation Hackathon and one hundred thousand naira in the Royal Academy of Engineering UK Hackathon and Innovation Challenge 2025.
The ATBU Acting Director RI&D who said the workshop was convened to scrutinise all concept notes submissions to ensure success in NRF approvals, noted that the institution has successfully secured approval and funding for 30 concept notes so far.
The workshop saw the presentation of four papers to include Crafting a Compelling and Fundable NRF Proposal by Professor Ibrahim Garba, Guidelines and Marking Scheme for NRF Proposal by Dr Isa Mohammed, Essentials of qualitative NRF Budgeting by Professor Fatima Sawa, Why are so many NRF proposals rejected by Professor Abdulsalam Yau Gital.
