At a national gathering of Nigeria’s engineering community in Akure, Ondo State, three final-year students from the University of Uyo received recognition for a classroom-born idea with practical public value: an elevator prototype that could respond to spoken commands and reduce dependence on conventional buttons.

The project, developed by Electrical and Electronics Engineering students Aniedi Effiong, Ekpenyong Treasure and Kufre Udo, won the Group Category at the 1st National Engineering Students’ Competition organised by the Committee of Deans of Engineering and Technology of Nigerian Universities (CODET).

For the students, the project was more than a competition entry. It offered a practical response to mobility barriers that can make everyday infrastructure difficult to use for blind users, wheelchair users and patients with limited physical movement.

“Beyond the award itself, the students’ work points to a larger story about engineering education, accessibility and the potential of locally developed technology to solve real problems in our communities,” said Prof. Emmanuel Atoo Ajav, CODET Chairman. “This is precisely what the competition was established to encourage. CODET wants engineering students to move beyond theory and demonstrate that they can identify practical challenges, apply sound engineering principles and develop innovative solutions with real social and economic value. A project that uses locally developed technology to make everyday infrastructure more accessible to people with disabilities reflects that mandate very strongly.”

The recognition was among the engineering achievements highlighted around the proceedings of the 25th Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) Engineering Assembly, held from August 8 to 10, 2016, at the International Conference Centre, The Dome, Akure. The national award was presented to Effiong by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, and the team received the N350,000 first-place cash prize.

From regional runner-up to national winner

The team’s path to the national prize began at the regional stage, where the University of Uyo students placed second and qualified for the final round. Rather than treating that result as the end of the project, they refined the prototype and strengthened the accompanying technical submission before presenting the improved system nationally.

CODET’s competition framework required entrants to describe the problem their innovation addressed, explain its engineering features and economic considerations, and provide supporting images. Students were also expected to defend their submissions before academic panels at different stages of the competition, which was held under the theme “Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation.”

Elevator designed with accessibility in mind

Their winning entry, titled “A Modern Elevator with Indigenous Language Speech Control for the Blind and Physically Challenged,” was designed to reduce reliance on physical elevator buttons. For users who cannot easily see, reach or press conventional controls, the students proposed a system that could detect a person approaching the elevator and allow the user to state a destination floor verbally.

The prototype combined proximity sensing, electronic control and a speech-control interface. The team identified hospitals as one possible setting for the technology, particularly where wheelchair users, blind persons or patients with limited mobility may need to use elevators without depending on assistance from others.

One of the project’s technical hurdles was speech recognition. At the time, dedicated speech-recognition hardware offered limited support for Nigerian languages, so the students developed an Android-based application that used Google’s speech-to-text engine and similarities in speech forms between English and local Nigerian languages to interpret spoken commands. Those commands could then be translated into instructions for the elevator control system.

The result was a working physical prototype that brought together the elevator structure, electronic controller, proximity sensor and software interface in a single demonstrable system.

Promoting engineering innovation

The competition was intended to encourage engineering students to connect technical design with entrepreneurship and practical problem-solving. By moving projects through university, regional and national evaluation, CODET created a pathway for student ideas to be tested, improved and presented before wider professional audiences.

For Effiong, Treasure and Udo, the national win marked the culmination of a project that combined engineering design, software development and accessibility concerns. It also offered a reminder that locally developed technology can begin in university laboratories and workshops, then evolve into solutions aimed at public needs.