DELSU: Prof. Owamah Delivers 115th Inaugural Lecture, Advocates Green Engineering Solutions

By Daniel Dafe & Joy Enamuotor

The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Professor Hilary Ijeoma Owamah, on Thursday delivered the 115th Inaugural Lecture of the institution.

Delivering the lecture titled “Harmony in Crises: Green Engineering Solutions for a Fragile World,” on Thursday at the at the 750 Lecture Theatre A, Site III, the Professor of Civil Engineering addressed the growing environmental vulnerabilities facing modern societies and the urgent need for sustainable engineering interventions.

The young scholar emphasized that global challenges such as climate change, pollution, water scarcity, and ecosystem degradation require innovative and eco-friendly engineering responses.

He explained that green engineering anchored on sustainability, resilience, and environmental harmony provides practical pathways for protecting the planet while supporting human advancement.

Prof. Owamah highlighted the responsibility of engineers, policymakers, researchers, and communities in adopting technologies that reduce carbon footprints, promote waste-to-energy solutions, safeguard water resources, and restore ecological balance.

According to him, this era is the most technologically advanced period in human history, yet the world is increasingly fragile.

He added: “We can send rockets to Mars, yet struggle to provide clean water for all. We can design smart cities, yet remain helpless before floods and waste. The balance, which is the harmony between human progress and environmental stewardship has been lost,” just as he opined that Civil Engineering “stands at the frontlines of this tension.”

He said further: “Every bridge, every road, every structure we design either contributes to harmony or to crisis. The green engineer, therefore, is not just a builder but a mediator between development and nature, between innovation and restraint.”

Furthermore, the don who specializes in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, said harmony implies balance, integration, and peace, saying “it is an alignment of parts that produce stability.”

In ecological terms, he noted that harmony refers to the equilibrium between natural systems and human activities, adding that “in engineering, it means designing in ways that preserve this balance.”

Stating that “crisis, on the other hand, denotes a disruption of harmony,” he said “environmental crises include pollution, flooding, desertification, climate change, etc.,” adding: “These are symptoms of disharmony. Infrastructural crises include collapse of buildings, failing roads, energy shortages which reflect poor systems thinking.”

Speaking further, he said “Green Engineering is the disciplined pursuit of harmony through science and design.”

He continued: “Our world today is fragile not only ecologically but also structurally and morally. Nigeria and other developing nations experience this fragility acutely through deforestation, urban flooding, desert encroachment, waste mismanagement, and infrastructural decay.”

Owamah also said “fragility also manifests in our social systems through weak governance, short-term planning, and disregard for maintenance culture.”

He noted that every age faces its peculiar crises, but said the challenges of the 21st century are distinct because they are self-inflicted and interconnected.

His words: “Environmental degradation, infrastructural collapse, poverty, and climate change reinforce each other in a vicious cycle. The developing world, Nigeria inclusive stands at the epicenter of this confluence. Crisis, in its etymological sense, means a turning point. It suggests both danger and opportunity. For the engineer, every crisis presents a call to innovate, to rethink, and to rebuild. Yet, when our systems collapse repeatedly, when roads fail within a year of construction, when drainage systems worsen flooding, when energy systems pollute rather than power; the crisis becomes chronic, structural, and moral.”

Furthermore, he said that the fragile planet can still thrive if engineers and citizens “choose harmony over haste, design over destruction and stewardship over exploitation.”

He listed mainstreaming Green Engineering Education, strengthening environmental governance, promoting renewable energy and resource efficiency, institutionalizing circular economy practices and encouraging multidisciplinary collaboration as some of the policies needed to be done to achieve green harmony.

He explained that sustainability should be integrated across all levels of education from primary science to postgraduate engineering, stating that universities should establish centers for Green Engineering and Circular Economy Research, fostering partnerships between academia, industry and government.

“The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) must require sustainability modules as part of accreditation benchmarks,” he averred.

Prof. Owamah also said that environmental laws must move from being documents of intent to instruments of action, stressing that government agencies should mandate environmental audits for industries every three years, establish green building codes for public infrastructure, enforce polluter-pays principles and incentivize waste-to-energy ventures.

Continuing, he opined that Nigeria’s transition to renewable energy should be both decentralized and inclusive.

“Government policies should provide tax incentives for households and firms adopting solar or biogas technologies, encourage public-private partnerships (PPPs) in renewable infrastructure and support local fabrication of small-scale digesters, turbines, and solar modules,” he said.

He also noted that green solutions require collaboration beyond engineering with economists, sociologists, public health experts, and urban planners.

He stated: “Universities should encourage interfaculty projects addressing real community problems, while industries should open their data and sites for academic partnership. Harmony cannot be engineered in isolation; it demands a chorus of disciplines.”

Meanwhile, he said that he envisions the establishment of “DELSU Green Hub,” a multidisciplinary center for renewable energy research, waste valorization projects, sustainable campus design, and community environmental education.

Adding: “Such a hub would not only advance research but also position our university as a living laboratory of green harmony.”

Following the insightful lecture, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Samuel Asagba, described the lecture as timely, intellectually stimulating and aligned with the commitment of DELSU to promoting research that addresses real-world problems, while commending Prof. Owamah for his clarity, innovation, and unwavering dedication to advancing sustainable solutions.

Professor Asagba reaffirmed DELSU’s commitment to supporting interdisciplinary research and fostering an environment where groundbreaking academic work can flourish.

He noted that the ideas shared in the lecture would continue to shape discussions within the university and beyond.

In a rare gesture that drew applause from attendees, the VC publicly acknowledged that he normally does not attend receptions following inaugural lectures, but however stated that he was making a deliberate exception in honour of Professor Owamah, describing him as “an outstanding scholar whose contributions, service, and depth of research merit special recognition.”

The event, which attracted academics, students, and guests from within and beyond the university community, further reinforced the long-standing tradition of celebrating scholarship and promoting research-driven solutions to societal challenges in the institution.