Govt should invest in Nust innovators

With that in mind, I walked past some of the dying industries in the City of Kings, and it was indeed a sorry sight seeing big companies that I shall not name here, using machinery as old as 1924! Honestly speaking, I couldn’t believe it. The question I was asking myself is what will be the starting point in the quest to energise the tired Bulawayo industries in such a situation?

What this means is that there is need for a lot of capital injection, so that the old machinery, good enough to be materials for the archives, is put in the correct place where it deserves inorder to pave way for modern, sophisticated industrial machinery needed for refurbishment of our industries.

But this thought coincided with a spectacular event that took place at Nust a few days ago. To those who missed it, I am sorry, because there was a lot to marvel at. I am talking about the colourful day in which Nust Engineering students took pride in showcasing their creativity through displaying some of their advanced projects done as part of their training course.

I was completely amazed myself. What I saw was just enough to put me in a pool of confusion, swimming in disbelief and amazement at the same time. I could not understand why Bulawayo has totally lost its status as the industrial hub of the nation when the country is rich in such human resource who through their passion in innovation, can revive the lost splendour of Zimbabwe’s industries.

Perhaps some of these names are quite familiar with most readers; Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, Willis Carrier, inventor of air conditioning, Samuel Colt, inventor of the Colt revolver, Henry Ford, inventor of the moving assembly line, Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat, to mention but a few.

From my own observation, there is great potential provided that something could be done,for instance; promotion, Government support or captains of industries investing in some of Nust’s creative ideas from students. Great engineers like Joshua John, Kelvin Muza, Kudakwashe Mutake, Umpokuhle Ncube, Edgar Chikwama and a chain of other brilliant engineers hidden inside the no doubt state-of-the-art white buildings around campus, one day would make world news and join the list of the above examples of most celebrated geniuses.

I will give a brief description of some of the superb projects that some of these students have successfully managed to practically demonstrate to me. Perhaps considering the increase in the number of road accidents that have claimed the lives of many, one student, Edgar Chikwama worked on what he calls an electronic police eye red traffic lights, which among other things, discourages red light runners through live video feed to police station of traffic intersection, automatic detection of cars that go through a red traffic light, automatic capturing of image of the car going through the intersection, automatic emailing of ticket to the offender.

So should such a device be fully developed, to all negligent drivers today it will be the right time to start practising responsible driving!

Related to Edgar’s idea, Umpokuhle Ncube developed the tollgate management system whose principal function is to regulate the flow of traffic at a tollgate in order to maintain order and organised flow of traffic. Undisputable good creative work for a country like ours.

Kudakwashe Mutake and Chigumbu Takunda developed the ammonia gas safety system and hot air burner respectively. Wonderful thinking in line with industrial needs. These are just few examples I picked but there is a whole lot of admirable works that ordinary citizens would never imagine.

For so many years, the country has lost golden opportunities in the form of creative individuals whom we need especially at this particular time when we are stressing the need for home grown solutions for the revival of our depreciating economic fortunes of beloved Zimbabwe.

I was looking at some of the projects which these students are coming up with, if truth be told, Nust has bred the exact type of individuals the nation is looking for.

Year by year, this has been happening, but one of the students, Edgar, told me after completing school, some of the projects just die a natural death. I could not understand why the Government would spent so much time buying expensive machinery outside the country for the revival of our industries when it is apparently clear that in this country, we are blessed to have the brains that can produce what we hunt for day-by-day in other countries like brainless cast offs. Why is the Government failing to give any form of support to these intelligent students, such that whatever model developed by one of our own brothers here in Bulawayo, can end up adding value to our industrial sector? Is it because we have been so much been brainwashed to the extent that we no longer have an appreciation of our own aspiring entrepreneurs, or we lack confidence in our own innovation?

I wish the responsible authorities in this country would spare some time and read through the history of some of the inventions that now make our everyday lives easier, and have an appreciation of how small they started. My heart bleeds to see interesting and potential ideas sinking into total oblivion, simply because nobody in this country had been considerate enough to make these innovative students realise their dreams.

The disheartening part of it is that after school, painful as it is, they are forced to throw away their brains into the dustbin, projects and ideas that they work day by day, every hour and every minute to make a functioning, marketable product or model, and join the endless queue with people looking for jobs. To be slaves of the very same people who are so far less intelligent and creative than them.

Every year, thousands of our local universities’ products, flock outside the country to look for jobs, where they go and implement the very same ideas that we neglect here, at times regarding them as worthless. Lest we forget, the reason why third world countries like Zimbabwe continue to be in perpetual poverty despite enjoying the advantages of a nation pregnant with rich resources, and high literacy levels in the whole continent, is that we continue selling raw materials especially to the West. At the end of the day, we are always the first customers to buy the finished products at an inflated price. And here I am talking of products manufactured through machinery developed thanks to the brains of Zimbabweans; developing other nations while back home the economic misery escalates to the point no regression.

I personally feel that Nust in particular has produced the potential human resource needed to turn around the disappointing state of our industries not only in Bulawayo but in the entire nation. And here I am discussing, basing on my own observations, the commendable workmanship by the Engineering Faculty at Nust. I strongly believe in other universities, even though Nust will of course top the list, there is something tangible and practicable that we can pick up for the betterment of our machinery hungry industries.

Suppose we take it this way, imagine if we are to send a team of, I would suggest the example of the five students I picked for this article, and send them to my home area Mutare to identify areas of improvement in the just emerging diamond mines in Chiadzwa. Don’t you all believe these students will definitely find something worthwhile for us and stop this madness of spending millions in buying technical equipment and even surrendering our precious resources to foreigners simply because we do not have the expertise and financial muscle to exploit what belongs to us for our benefit?

OK, what if we are to let them work on improving the industries right here in Bulawayo to revive the industries as the President called for. Have any of the industrialists here ever thought of areas of cooperation with the Nust engineering department so that our own people can work on improving our industries?

So yes, there is a call to revive the legacy of Bulawayo as the industrial hub of the nation but are we as a nation are we trying any way to harness the very ready human resources at our convenient disposal.

The students I talked to expressed their utmost commitment to work towards improving their nation and its industrial sector, but they all cry over neglect expressed by the would-be support systems in the country.

So when I passed by the Nust stand at the ZITF, it was really inspiring seeing crowds of people mounting the stand in disbelief, marvelling at the spectacular projects to the extent that I failed to even say a word to these stars. The only issue that I was left with some questions about was the lack of female students amongst those students who were exhibiting at ZITF. However in other departments there was evidence of gender balance, perhaps explaining that women still find engineering a preserve for men. I am not sure.

For the betterment of our nation, for the improvement of our industries, Nust is there for you Zimbabwe. Producing excellent engineers, creative and with a passion to put their brains at work. And this is the spirit in all departments at Nust that I deliberately ignored for this story albeit evidence a lot to be benefited from them. May the Government please try to honour this, we will forever be a preserve to train students who at the end of the day work for the continuous growth of other economies at the expense of our own Zimbaramabwe.

* Jephiter Tsamwi is a final year student in Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Journalism and Media Studies at Nust. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Phone: 0733854681. 0777930995.

*NB* Jephiter writes in his personal capacity.