AFAC expo: What Kano exhibited

Kano State, focusing more on exhibiting its cultural wealth through leather works and others was distinct with the display of its technological innovation of locally fabricated fountain using clay pots and water tap mechanism as well as an indigenious concept of acquatic engineering.

Explaining what the exposition meant for them, Mal. Bashir Musa Bebeji, a deputy director in Kano State Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said, “AFAC EXPO encompasses the various local craft producers, in textile, ceramics, pottery, dyeing industry, cotton, metal and the blacksmiths.” He said, “this is an opportunity for the local producers/marketers to expose themselves and their products to the various techniques and ways through which other people are producing and compare these to what they have on ground and find a way of improving and developing the concept.”

He said Kano is displaying a locally developed technology using poultry and wood. Adding that the concept of light bulb inside a bucket of water shows a bit of aquatic engineering and oceanic technology like is available in some parts of the world, like as the concept of the tunnel in the ocean which has now become a tourist site.”

The ideas which were locally thought through by Auwal Hassan Gayawa continually drew crowd to the pavilion followed by questions and admiration for the little wonders.

Speaking to Weekly Trust, Gayawa explained the principle behind his creations. “I went into this as a trade, as a means of self-reliance and self-sustenance. I have been working on this for the past four months and have encountered difficulties in the technicalities of the idea of aquatic engineering.

“There was hardly any motivation because some people perceived it as a white elephant project. Finance was another challenge,” he added.

On the mechanism, he said “I used salt and tar amongst other materials to make this (bulb in bucket of water) achievable. So far, I have gotten some patronage from people seeing me demonstrate its usage and the fact that it is safe.

“I use very heavy insulation when I remove the glass tube of the globe, I insulate the metal on the bottom where the terminus outlet (plug in stand for the bulb) is. I also made several insulations in the areas where I have attached the switches so that there is absolutely no contact between the water and wire terminus inside the switch. Sometimes, if you switch it on and remove the bulb, you will see both terminuses bubbling as if there is a boiling ring in there. But it does not shock if you touch the water”, he concluded.

Describing his water fountain, he said “I used a tree trunk and scooped it out completely leaving only the shell. According to him, he perforated it and put pipes through and let them run to the top where he placed a pot. On the lower part of the trunk, “I connected the pipes to a buta (locally fabricated rubber container for fetching well water), which is covered with a basket. I put another pot over the buta. The water inside the pot is drawn by the buta. It then goes up through the tree trunk to the pot on top of the tree from where it pours down into the pot again. I got artificial leaves and fruits, which add aesthetics to it.”