Unilag, Uniben, ABU Students for Shell Eco-Marathon

Students of three Nigerian universities have built cars that will feature at the Shell Eco-marathon, Africa (SEMA) in South Africa from October 2 to 4.

Students of three Nigerian universities have built cars that will feature at the Shell Eco-marathon, Africa (SEMA) in South Africa from October 2 to 4. They are sponsored by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture.

The students of University of Lagos, University of Benin and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, collectively known as Team Nigeria, will join 40 teams from four countries to test the energy efficiency of their cars at the Zwartkops Raceway, near Pretoria. The event will be hosted by the School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Johannesburg. The Shell Eco-marathon competition challenges students in different continents (America, Europe, Asia and Africa) to build and race energy-efficient cars, and rewards those that travel farthest with the least amount of fuel.

“The sponsorship of the students opens an exciting phase in our long-standing support for education in Nigeria,” said Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director SPDC and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria.

“In addition to awarding scholarships, building schools and donating science equipment, we’re challenging the leaders of tomorrow to begin to think about, and act on the difficult energy choices facing a rapidly increasing world population.”

In 2014, the SPDC JV provided seed funding for the three universities and sponsored them to the European edition of the competition in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. They also participated in the maiden edition of Shell Eco-Marathon Africa which held in South Africa in 2014, with the University of Benin team winning the Best Designed Car award.  SPDC organised a test drive at the Campos Mini stadium in Lagos in March 2015 to test the readiness of the students.