FG Embraces UNILORIN Oil Spill Clean-up Tool

The federal government has adopted the use of a local oil spill management product developed by a University of Ilorin Chemical Engineering Professor, Sulyman Age AbdulKareem, in its renewed efforts to clean up the oil-soaked lands of the Niger Delta.

He said that the product, for which he received a patent in 2005, is capable of saving the country substantial amount in foreign exchange.

Abdulkareem who was the winner of the Best Researcher of the Year award in 2005, lauded the federal government for showing renewed commitment towards tackling oil spillage in the country through the use of local resources.

He revealed that he made the product from disposed water sachets, and that “the material has the property of selectively picking up oil and organics and leaving water intact.”

“When I got that product, I related it to what I was doing in the United States because in the US, we were buying fresh polymers to make a material that was used for oil spill management in the West. But immediately I was able to get this product from the disposed water sachets, and investigated the properties, I was actually excited that it could be the same thing that a whole unit was set up to do in the US and that was what started it,” he said.