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Research: Wealth Out of Waste (WOW): Biomass and Waste Materials

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2 years ago

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By Aminu Owonikoko

The global warming issue (greenhouse effect) in Nigeria and other parts of Africa and the rest of the world can be mitigated by turning our biomass and other waste materials into wealth. Intensive research has shown that biomass and waste materials are “resources” not “waste” anymore. They are regenerative!

Bioenergy (Biofuels/bioethanol/biodiesel) can be generated from biomass and waste materials. There is a global rush to biomass and waste materials as feedstocks (raw materials) for biofuels production because they are very cheap and readily available. Biomass is all plant and animal matters that has not been fossilised. They are lignocellulosic in nature. That is, they contain lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose. Examples of biomass and waste materials are: sawdust, woodchips, corn stover, municipal solids wastes (MSW), industrial and commercial wastes, animal wastes (like cow dung and chicken/poultry litter), sugar cane, corn, shredded paper, used cooking oil, jatropha, broomcorn, sorghum, straw, wood shavings, algae, cassava, bagasse, e.t.c.

All these resources can be employed to power our vehicles on the road, generate electricity and gas, and produce other biochemicals like fertilizers with readily available and proven technologies. These resources are in abundance in Nigeria and other parts of Africa but they are causing environmental ado to the country (continent) because they are left to be rotten, thus, generating biogas (methane and carbon dioxide) which are dangerous to the environment but they can be used for other useful purposes with readily available and proven technologies.

Our total dependency on fossil fuels (petroleum: oil and gas) is also causing economic problems to the nation. Research has shown that fossil fuels will dry (run) out one day. The need to generate energy from renewable/sustainable sources is very pertinent to our dear country and continent. Other countries like United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, India, Brazil, Switzerland and other European countries have imbibed in this by generating their energy from sustainable/renewable sources.

The process (conversion) technologies that can add value to our biomass and waste materials are not exorbitant. They are gasification, pyrolysis, trans-esterification, combustion, anaerobic digestion, fermentation and hydrolysis.

Pyrolysis is the process of heating biomass (mostly carbon-based wastes) at a high temperature in an environment with no oxygen. The restriction of air available during the chemical conversion process is to a greater degree than for gasification. Pyrolysis is the starting process for both combustion and gasification if sufficient oxygen or other oxidizing agents are present. In this process, biomass is broken down to achieve the following products: char (which can be activated to produce activated carbon), combustible gas, and liquid oil.

Gasification process is employed to convert a heterogeneous biomass feedstock to a consistent intermediate product consensually called producer gas. Biomass gasification yields a combustible gas that can be employed to generate heat, liquid fuels and electricity. Carbon monoxide, methane and hydrogen are the main combustible components of producer gas. In addition to these gases, gasification produces char, carbon dioxide, water vapour, and ash. The producer gas also contains nitrogen and small amount of oxygen (1-2%).

Transesterification: this is a chemical process that is employed to produce biodiesel (an ester) made from oils (e.g. used cooking oil) or fats. In this process, a catalyst causes the exchange of the alkoxyl group of an ester by another alcohol.

Anaerobic digestion: is the bacterial decomposition of the volatile solids to biogas (methane and carbon dioxide). Food processing, municipal solid and animal wastes can be used as feedstocks (raw materials) for anaerobic digesters.

Combustion is the complete oxidation of carbon to carbon dioxide with production of heat. The heat must be used immediately. In order to generate steam for electricity from biomass, biomass/waste materials can be combusted directly or it can be converted into gas to power a turbine. Combustion could be done on domestic heating, district heating, combined heat and power (CHP) and large-scale combustion.

Hydrolysis involves extracting simple carbohydrates from complex carbohydrates found in cellulose and hemicellulose. Extracting the carbohydrates may involve steam explosion of the cell wall, or dissolving the organic constituents with acids, enzymes, or organic solvents. Sugars resulting from hydrolysis can then be converted into ethanol through fermentation.

Fermentation: production of bioethanol through fermentation can be achieved in at least 3 ways:

(1) Directly using naturally available sugars, such as broomcorn, sugarcane, sorghum

(2) Indirectly using carbohydrate or starch sources, such as cassava

(3) In combination with acid hydrolysis or enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose sources such as wood residues (like woodchips, saw dust and wood shavings) which produce sugars that can be fermented into biofuels (bioethanol).

All the succinct aforementioned conversion technologies can be employed in Nigeria and other parts of developing countries in Africa to add value to our biomass and waste without unnecessary costs, thus, it will mitigate the global warming issues and create more jobs to the nation and the continent. Further information is summarised schematically in the figure 1 below particularly for sugarcane which is tolerant and adaptable to other biomass materials with little retrofit (i.e. modification).

Published in 2019

Aminu Owonikoko MPhil (UK), MSc (UK), B.Tech (Nigeria) Email: owonikokoak@yahoo.com Mobile number: +1 785 914 8240

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Remembering Biafran Warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu (1933 – 2011)

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22 hours ago

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November 8, 2025

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By Eric Elezuo
He came as a unifying force, defying all known luxury to settle for career he was in love it – military. His name was Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu; a Nigerian soldier turned Biafran Warlord as a result of exigencies that ‘cannot be ignored’.If Ojukwu had lived till date, he would have been celebrating 92 years on November 4, the day he was born. But Ojukwu died on November 26, 2011 after a brief illness in London. He legacy has remained evergreen, especially among the Igbo speaking tribe of Nigeria, residing in the south-east region of the country; a people, he gave his utmost best to liberate from the shackles of mass murder, supervising a bloody war with little or no arms and ammunition for 30 months.

Ojukwu is the toast of the average Igboman, his shortcomings notwithstanding.

Born with the shinniest of silver spoons in the Zungeru area of colonial Nigeria, on November 4, 1933, to one of the wealthiest individuals of his time, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, the young had the best of everything life could offer, growing up. He was educated at obe of the most prestigious institutions in the country then, King’s College, Lagos, and later at Epsom College in Surrey, England.

He proceeded afterwards to Lincoln College, Oxford University where he obtained a master’s degree in Modern History in 1955. He returned to Nigeria to serve as an administrative officer and suddenly, contrary to expectation, he joined the Nigerian army, and grew by the ranks. He was the first of a kind, joining the military with a retinue of academic successes and certificates.

It would be noted that Ojukwu joined the army in protest. He was protesting the termination of his appointment in civil service when he was posted to Calabar, by the Sir John Macpherson at the instant of his father.

A breakdown of Ojukwu’s sojourn in the field of academics has it that at the outbreak of World War II when he was seven, his father sent him to St. Patrick’s School and CMS Grammar School both in Lagos. In 1944 at the age of 10, Ojukwu started studying at King’s College, Lagos. In 1945 when Ojukwu has stayed for two years in Kings College, his father, who want him to be educated in England, made consultations from his English friend. Epsom College in Surrey was recommended and by 1946, he was sent there for an advanced education.

Ojukwu stayed at Epsom for six years. During that time, he excelled in academics as well as in sports and athletics. He played rugby for the college winning the spring javelin throwing and discus. At 18 he entered Lincoln College, Oxford and studied briefly in 1952. Loius wanted his son to be a lawyer as it was the most common in Nigeria but Ojukwu wants to read modern history. Between 1952 and 1955 he studied law and later switched to history. He also joined the West African Students’ Union in Oxford. During his final years, he joined Oxford Rugby Union as wing three quarter in Lincoln College’s team. Ojukwu graduated with a B.A in arts in 1955 and travelled back to Lagos. He would later return to Oxford to obtain his M.A.

His destiny was beginning to get shaped when six years after Nigeria’s independence in 1960, a group of military officers overthrew the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa-led civilian government. The failure of the coup brought General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to power, and he appointed Ojukwu as the Military Governor of the Igbo-dominated Eastern Region.

Following a pogrom against the Igbo in several parts of Nigeria, especially in the north after the coup that claimed Aguiyi-Ironsi’s life, Ojukwu, as the governor of Eastern Region, engaged the government in several diplomatic discussions on the road to peace. An accord was reached during some of the parley, one of which is the popular Aburi Accord.The failure of the Accord and continuous pogrom led Ojukwu into seceding from  Nigeria, declaring the Republic of Biafra, and becoming its first Head of State. The action led to a civil war, which has been argued in many quarters as a genocide against the Igbos of the then-Eastern region.

Ojukwu did not have what it takes to fight the war as regards weapons. He only had the determination and willpower of his people. But that did not take them far as the Nigerian military, with support from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, came out victorious, using the weapon of hunger and alleged genocide.

Ojukwu’s effort to use the foreign media to highlight the plight of Biafran civilians and depict the war as genocide against Igbos went unheard, receiving recognition only from France, Haiti and Cote d’ Ivoire among one other two others. He lost the war after superlatively standing off the Nigerian military with its massive oversea’s support, and with it, the young Biafran nation and about three million Biafrans.

Ojukwu subsequently fled to Ivory Coast in exile, where President Félix Houphouët-Boigny granted him political asylum. He returned to Nigeria 1981,when President Shehu Shagari granted him total amnesty.

Though he tried unsuccessfully to grab political power, he made his mark for himself and his people. He began by fighting to reclaim all his property across the country, and married the 21-year-old Bianca Onoh, daughter of a one time governor of Anambra State, C. C. Onoh.

He died in 2011 at the age of 78 in London, England. His body was returned to Nigeria, where Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan gave him a state funeral, a funeral suitable for a general, which he was. He was buried with full military honours, including a 21-gun salute from the Nigerian Army, and thousands of people attended his funeral.

To some, Ojukwu is a contentious figure in the history of Nigeria, but to many, especially the Igbo, he is a hero and wears a messianic cloak. They believe that though the war was lost, a statement was made in the loudest of voices.

Today, however, the voice of Biafra has re-echoed, first from MASSOB, and presently from Nnamdi Kanu’s Indigenous People of Biafra (IBOP).

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HURIWA Demands Probe As Nine Soldiers Accused of Links to Boko Haram Allegedly Escape from Custody

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4 days ago

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November 5, 2025

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A major security breach has hit the Nigerian military after nine soldiers reportedly escaped from a guardroom at Maimalari Cantonment, Maiduguri — headquarters of the Army’s 7 Division.

Military sources said the incident occurred around 2:15am on Monday.

Most of the escapees were said to have been detained for alleged links with Boko Haram and involvement in arms trafficking in the North-East.

“There was a jailbreak on Monday around 0215 hours at Maimalari Cantonment. Nine personnel detained mostly for dealing in arms running with terrorists escaped,” a source, according to some media reports, confirmed.

One of the fugitives has since been recaptured, while a manhunt is underway for the remaining eight.

The military has reportedly launched an internal probe to uncover how the soldiers succeeded in breaking free from the high-security facility.

Meanwhile, a pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group – Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) of Nigeria has condemned the criminal activity of letting out such high value suspects at a time that the nation is gripped by the threats of the United States of America government’s threats to unleash military airstrikes targeting Islamic Terrorists like Boko Haram terrorists and ISWAP.

HURIWA believes that if the report is factually accurate, then there is more to it than meets the eyes. It means that there is a high network of conspiratorial plots from the topmost echelons of the command structures and these collaborators and saboteurs of the war on terror must be identified, arrested, prosecuted for treason and jailed for life.

HURIWA tasked the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu to take the matter as a high priority case and to go after the escapees just as the commander charged with securing their detention should be immediately suspended and all those who participated in aiding and abetting their disappearances must be arrested and prosecuted for sabotaging the counter terrorism war in Nigeria.

“If this is true, it means that the claims made by the Borno state governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, of the existence of saboteurs of the war on terror within the Nigeria Army is much deeper than we are all contemplating.”

The Rights group stated that although the Nigerian Army is yet to react to the development at the time the media filed this report, the escapees were alleged to be involved in arms trafficking to terrorist groups operating in Nigeria’s North-East just as it was gathered that reports of the jailbreak have led to serious concerns within Nigeria’s security sector.

HURIWA expressed disappointment that saboteurs embedded within the nation’s military circles orchestrated the ugly development just few days after President Bola Tinubu appointed new service chiefs as a way to pass a message that they are invincible but the civil rights advocacy group stated that allowing these important and strategic suspects who sabotaged the war on terror to escape without being caught on time, it therefore means that there is the urgency of the moment to review the entire spectrum of military operations against Boko Haram terrorists given that their informants and suppliers of weapons have successfully penetrated the military institution, which is a very big shame.

“When we call for heads to roll, we truly mean that many bad eggs must be immediately weeded out of the Army given that they are actually undermining the National security of the corporate entity of Nigeria. It is time for a transparent overhauling of the security operations against terrorists in the country.”

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Should I Have Traveled with My Enemies’ Children, Wike Defends Traveling with Sons to Official Assignment

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5 days ago

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November 4, 2025

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Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has reacted to viral photos showing his sons accompanying him on local and foreign trips, saying he has the right to carry them along.

He argued that his sons, as master’s degree holders, need the exposure.

“What law says that my sons shouldn’t travel? Let the FCT say where they paid ₦1.

“What official matter? Did they sign any document? It doesn’t need to be a personal trip.

“What’s wrong? So, I can travel with anybody from the FCT. I can travel with anybody in Nigeria. I have that right.

“Oh, come on, they have to know how Nigeria is. They have to learn about government,” Wike said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.

Asked whether he was teaching them to become politicians, he said, “No, that’s not correct. My first son is a lawyer. He said, ‘No, I’m not going to practice. I want to be a farmer.’

“I said, ‘What do you mean by this? He said, ‘No, this is what I want to do.’ I said, ‘Okay’. What do you do?

“They’ve gone for training in Spain. They’ve gone for training in Lisbon.

“My second son finished from King’s College — a master’s degree in Economics. He said he wants to be in real estate.”

The former Rivers State governor also said he is happy that his sons behave responsibly and give him comfort.

“I’m so happy that I have children who have given me comfort, who have not given me problems.

“Assuming they were somewhere smoking. You would have said, ‘Oh, look at these children now. Who are they? I will not travel with my enemy’s children,” he added.

Wike has been spotted with his sons at official events, including the commissioning of projects in the FCT.

Last week, he was criticised by some Nigerians for taking them to a summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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