The Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, Dr Olusegun Aluko has disclosed that it took only seven days and N1.2 million for a team of researchers in the institution to design and fabricate a ventilator.
Aluko, an architect, spoke yesterday at the institution’s laboratory while fielding questions from journalists.
The ventilator was unveiled last week by the Rector after which a team of the state government led by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Tokunbo Talabi, and the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, had equally visited the tertiary institution to appraise it.
According to the Rector, the need to find relief for victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria was the motive for the project.
The Rector said in the wake of the ravaging pandemic, the institution came up with the idea of fabricating a ventilator, which was put forward to the polytechnic community and within a space of time, 14 volunteers agreed to take up the challenge.
He admitted that the lockdown posed a great challenge to researchers while scouting for the materials needed to fabricate the ventilator, which he described as world-class.
“Where we are expected to use a certain material and could not be sourced in the market due to the lockdown, our group of technicians and technologists ensured they produce something of great quality, tested and certified to make do for the one we couldn’t get in the market,” he said.
On the total cost of the ventilator and what next by the polytechnic, the Rector explained that, although a total sum of N1.2m was expended on the project, the materials on the ground can still be used to mass-produce as far as more funds are available.
“I think a ventilator of this magnitude costs around N7m in the market. But, we have been able to produce at a relatively low price a more standard Ventilator for the use of our people”, he said.
