Michael Faraday and Michael Faborode were born on September 22 1791 and 1956 respectively. Faraday, a British Chemist, Physicist and Forerunner of the electrical Engineering Profession and Faborode, a Nigerian Professor of Agricultural Engineering.
Faraday rejected the Presidency of the Royal Institution, the Nigerian equivalent which is the Nigerian Academy of Science whereas Faborode a farm machinery and processing expert and a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering served as the President of the West African Association of Agricultural Engineers and is the Incumbent secretary – general of the Commitee of Vice Chancellors.
Its been said that if Michael Faraday had lived in the 20th century he would have won six Nobel prizes” for revolutionary discoveries in the area of physics and chemistry”.so opined Sir John Thomas former director of the Royal institution of Britain
Faborode has won three prizes so far,: these include joint 1st prize, NOTAP national innovation award 2002, joint 4th prize winner RMDC processing plant design 2005 and 1st prize winner RMDC plant design 2008.
On September 22 1978,the 22 Birthday anniversary of Faborode, the Unity Party of Nigeria(UPN) was founded by Obafemi Awolowo and coincidentally Faborode was appointed as the 9th vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU). Ile, Ife Osun State.
The symbol of the UPN was a candle lighting up the Map of Nigeria. For several years running Faraday had the Christmas experiments under the title,The Chemical History of a Candle. When the Nigerian Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was made PLC. People termed PLC to mean Please light Candle.
on September 9 1980, coincidentally the 49th birthday of the late Professor Ojetunji Aboyade , noted economist and university of Ife(Now OAU) vice Chancellor,,in a forward to a book, 320 worked examples in mechanics by Professor Ayodele Awojobi, Obafemi Awolowo wrote” One of the badges of Poverty is the inability of men to invent and maintain machines”.The Economist s Pocket Book of Figures of year 2019, reveals that Nigeria spent 10 Billion Dollars on importing Machinery and transport equipment in 2018. The Businessagro section of The Guardian August 6 2018 had a report by Femi Ibirogba captioned, Agric equipment fabricators seek end to job, wealth exportation. The report states Nigeria is import dependent on agricultural equipment and technologies despite colleges of agriculture and universities.
