A Solar-powered Vehicle (SPV), designed, fabricated and assembled by the Innovation and Research Centre of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) was over the weekend inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Chinedu Nebo.

The three-wheel drive prototype was driven round the campus with the VC as its first passenger. Prof. Nebo, an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) and a world-class engineer-cum-academic, had chosen to be first chauffeur-driven in the vehicle to ascertain its functionality as well as technical grey areas for improvement.

Also speaking on the occasion, an elder statesman and three-time former Minister in the country, Pa Ayo Ogunlade, applauded the initiatives of the vehicle’s manufacturer, Engr Ifeanyi Eze, Director, Innovation and Research Centre of the university, and his team.

Already, FUOYE has since its inception in July 2011, recorded achievements in specific areas like the conduct of electronic examinations for staff recruitment, hitchfree conduct of Post-UTME, and the design and subsequent commissioning by the Minister for Education, of the Solar-Powered Inverter – the first of its kind in the history of Nigerian higher education.