The University of Ilorin has said that its two prototype designs of the automobile speed limiting device are attracting corporate investors.
Sulyman Age-AbdulKareem, the director of the university’s laboratory to product centre, said this on Wednesday after a routine meeting of the speed limiter team in Ilorin.
Age-Abdulkareem said that corporate investors had started bidding to invest in the mass production of the device.
He added that patents on the devices had already been filed and would be ready next month.
“Interested investors are knocking at our doors with proposals to fund the project,” he said.
He added that AbdulGaniyu Ambali, vice-chancellor of the university and the deputy vice-chancellor, management services, Adedayo Abdulkareem, were examining the offers and would soon be meeting with the investors.
The director, who is also the coordinator of the research team, disclosed that the university was considering several funding options and raising several questions to get the best from the project.
He said the institution’s management would look for the best option for now and in the foreseeable future.
Age-AbdulKareem stressed that the prospect of an investment model that would allow engineering students to work and study would be exciting.
He said it will create job opportunities for staff and students, which would contribute significantly to the university’s internally generated revenue.
He expressed optimism that it would conserve the nation’s foreign exchange by minimising importation of production materials and motivate local engineers.
In his speech, the VC said that the university was the first in Nigeria to respond positively to the challenge given by the federal government to Nigerian universities.
He said the challenge was to come up with a speed limiting device that could be used to curb accidents on Nigerian roads.
Ambali said that he had tested the device on a vehicle and felt comfortable with the researchers’ claims.
According to him, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has also been informed of the developments.
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