The Energy Republic February Edition 2022

NIGERIA AND GAS
NEW APPOINTMENT
Professor Barth Nnaji
Nigeria's former Minister of Power
NLNG Appoints Prof. Nnaji as Science Prize
Board Chair for 2022 Cycle
The Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has
announced the appointment of
Professor Barth Nnaji, a renowned
scientist and former Minister of Power, as
the chairperson of the Advisory Board for
the 2022 cycle of the NLNG Prize for
Science.
Professor Nnaji succeeds Professor
Emeritus Akpoveta Susu, a former science
prize winner who retired from the Board in
2022. Professor Susu was appointed Board
chairman in 2016. The Company also
named Professor Yusuf Abubakar as a
member in the newly reconstituted threeperson
Board, which will serve to
implement wide-sweeping reforms that
will reposition the Prize as one of the top
science prizes in the world.
Professor Abubakar joins Chief Dr Nike
Akande, a two-time minister and former
President of the Lagos Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, who remains on
the Board.
The newly constituted Board has assumed
duties in preparations for the 2022 cycle of
t h e P r i ze . T h e B o a rd a p p ro v e d
“Innovations in Sustainable Food Security”
as the theme for the scientific competition.
Professor Nnaji is a Nigerian scientist and a
professor of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering. He was a director of the US
National Science Foundation Centre for e-
Design, University of Pittsburgh. He served
in different advisory roles to the President
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria before
being appointed a Minister of Science and
Technology in 1993 and later Minister of
Power in 2011. He is also the founder of the
first independent power transmission
station in Nigeria.
Accepting the appointment, Professor Nnaji
stated that he would support the Prize to create
an oasis of world standard inspiration for basic
science research that will impact the lives of
Nigerians.
Professor Abubakar is a professor of Animal
Breeding and Quantitative Genetics and is the
Coordinator of Agriculture Group, R&D
Standing Committee, at the Tertiary Education
Trust Fund. He is also the President of the
Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS),
Chair of the Board of Trustees, WorldFish, and
currently a visiting professor at the University of
Abuja. He was a judge in the 2021 cycle of The
Nigeria Prize for Science.
Commenting on the reconstitution of the
Advisory Board, NLNG’s General Manager for
E x ternal Re l ations a n d S u sta i n a b l e
Development, Mr Andy Odeh, expressed
appreciation to Emeritus Professor Susu for his
selfless service to the Prize. He said Professor
Susu assumed leadership at a critical time for
the Prize when it was being restructured,
overseeing the management of change and
charting a new trajectory for competition.
He stated that the changes made to the
Advisory Board would consolidate the
achievements made by the former Board
chairman. He expressed NLNG’s support for the
Board’s mandate of making the Prize stronger
and more prestigious in the world.
The Nigeria Prize for Science awards prize
money is $100,000
The Nigeria Prize for Science celebrates
excellence in scientific breakthroughs and
honours scientists from anywhere in the world
who help find solutions to a local or ‘Nigerian’
problem as defined and advertised by the
Advisory Board for the prize.
The Prize is an annual prize aimed at stimulating
the advancement and application of science
and technology. It is expected that the quest for
a prestigious prize in science will improve
science and technology in Nigeria, resolve
issues that are germane to development of the
country and help improve the standards of
living.
The prize is administered on behalf of Nigeria
LNG Limited by the Advisory Board for Science.
The current Advisory Board is chaired by a
former winner of the prize, recipient of Nigeria
National Merit Award and Fellow of The
Nigerian Academy of Sciences, Professor Alfred
Akpoveta Susu. Other members of the Board
are Professor Barth Nnaji, internationallyacclaimed
professor of robotics, Nigeria’s
former Minister of Science and Technology, and
former Minister of Power; Professor Michael
Adikwu, former winner of the prize and former
Vice-Chancellor, University of Abuja; and Chief
(Dr.) Mrs. Nike Akande, Nigeria’s former
Minister of Industries and Chairman of Lagos
Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and
Agriculture.
When an entry has been found worthy of
winning the Prize, the name of the winner (s) is
announced in October, commemorating the
first export of LNG cargo by NLNG on October 9,
1999.
The overall prize implementation is the
responsibility of the Advisory Board, supported
by the secretariat which is located within NLNG. ​
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