From Sola Ojo, Abuja
A Nigerian engineer and researcher is gaining global recognition for driving cutting-edge innovations in national defence, clean water access, and waste recycling – all from the lens of indigenous science.
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Speaking with newsmen yesterday, Reuben Kabantiyok, a metallurgical and materials engineer and doctoral candidate at the University of Tulsa, USA, said he was using advanced materials science and nanotechnology to solve some of Nigeria’s toughest challenges.
From Kaduna to Washington, Kabantiyok is helping to reshape how Nigeria thinks about self-reliance in defence systems.
According to him, developing fatigue-resistant smart alloys such as nickel-titanium (Nitinol) customised for Nigeria’s harsh environments and military needs, would help the country a great deal.
“Many of our current materials aren’t built for local conditions. We must engineer with our terrain, climate, and people in mind,” he said.
He added that he was also pushing for the use of local raw materials such as brass, bauxite, steel waste in military hardware, and collaborating with Nigerian firms like Imperium Industries and the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) to build a private-led military industrial complex.
In the water sector, Kabantiyok consults for Schrödinger Technologie Nigeria, deploying nanotech water filters to underserved communities in northern Nigeria.
“Conventional water treatment methods are often expensive or not feasible in remote areas.
“With nanotechnology, we can design affordable systems that remove heavy metals, microbes, and even chemical contaminants with minimal maintenance,” he stated.
“So nanotechnology allows us to create cheap, efficient systems that clean water even in the most remote places,” he said.
He further stressed that he was also working on converting agricultural waste like chicken feathers, snail shells, palm kernel husks into biodegradable materials for construction, packaging, and environmental cleanup.
“Waste is everywhere in Nigeria on our farms, streets, and factories. However, if we process it smartly, especially at the nanoscale, it becomes wealth. It becomes a tool for innovation,” Kabantiyok said.
In health, Kabantiyok is enhancing Nitinol-based cardiovascular implants, aimed at improving device durability and reducing surgery rates for heart patients in low-resource settings.
He called on the government and institutions to establish low-cost nanomaterials labs in Nigerian universities and polytechnics.
“We have the talent, we have the materials, and we have the problems worth solving.
“All we need is the commitment to build research systems that work in our context,” he noted.
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