Nigerian Engineer Chosen as a Finalist on the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, Winner to Receive £25,000

A Nigerian Electronics Engineer, Ifediora Ugochukwu, is one of the finalists on the prestigious 2018 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation for his innovation iMeter –  a tamper-proof electricity meter.

The device, which is built along with an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) software, seeks to address the issue of electricity meter tampering in Nigeria by preventing individuals from tampering with electricity meters and ensuring they are billed only for the energy they use.

Nigeria's Ifediora Ugochukwu, founder of iMeter, has made it into the finals of the prestigious 2018 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. pic.twitter.com/4ZJpNcqhPo

— NG to the World (@SplufikNG) May 29, 2018

The meter measures energy usage and connects to cellphones or computers equipped with the AMI software so that consumers can manage their energy supply remotely.

This is a good innovation considering the fact that more than 30% of meters in the country are tampered with, or vandalised which results in bill estimation.

The other finalists for the prize include Matibabu (a Ugandan malaria-testing solution), AltMet (a Zimbabwean precious metal recovery solution), and Science Set (a Ghanaian mini science lab).

The Africa Prize is dedicated to developing the entrepreneurial skills of engineers across Africa, with the finalists chosen for their engineering innovations that provide new solutions for local challenges in STEM education, Household energy use, responsible resources use in the automotive industry, and MedTech. They were selected from a pool of 16 shortlisted candidates (which included other Nigerian innovations such as Kitovu and Coldhubs) from seven African countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

Here are the four finalists of £25 000 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation https://t.co/nC8X5l4dcD

— WomeninTech (@womentechafrica) May 31, 2018

The four innovators were selected by the London-based Royal Academy of Engineering as finalists of this year’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. They would be pitching their innovations to a panel of judges on June 13, 2018, in Nairobi where the winner will receive £25,000 with £10,000 awarded to each of the runners up.

The Prize, which was first launched in 2014,  aims to stimulate, celebrate and reward innovative engineers from across the continent. In fact, last year’s Africa Prize was won by Nigerian tutoring startup, Tuteria.