Four chemical engineering students from Nigerian Universities have received a combined N2.25 million in scholarships as industry stakeholders called on practitioners across the profession to build stronger competencies in risk management, warning that inadequate expertise in the field threatens critical sectors driving Nigeria's economic output.

The awards were presented at a public lecture organised by the Board of Trustees of the Engineer Anthony Olufemi Shobo Foundation for Chemical Engineering Education and Research, held under the auspices of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers in honour of Anthony Shobo, who turned 95 in Lagos.

Miss Alero Afinotan of Covenant University claimed the top prize of N1 million, followed by Miss Judith Opoke of the University of Calabar, who received N600,000. David Ibok, also of Covenant University, took the third position with N400,000, while Victory Ohre of the Federal University of Petroleum, Effurun, received N250,000. The four winners were selected through a rigorous process based on established standards, according to the Board of Trustees Chairman, Prof Ayo Ogunye, who commended the celebrant for sustaining the annual award.

Executive Director of Industrial Risks Protection Consultant Limited, Jacob Adeosun, who delivered the lecture on industrial risk management and the chemical engineering profession, argued that every engineer must attain risk management competence given the sector's reach across oil and gas, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, waste management, and renewable energy.

Adeosun described the chemical engineer as "a versatile problem solver embedded in nearly every sector of the global economy," adding that the profession had become "cross functional, dynamic, and indispensable to modern industrial risk management." He identified systems thinking, quantitative modelling, process optimisation, hazard identification, root cause analysis, and multi variable problem solving as core skills now required of practitioners.

He warned that developing these competencies was not optional but essential to limiting industrial losses and growing Nigeria's GDP, given chemical engineering's potential to drive economic transformation across vital industries.

Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Rahmon Bello, who presented the awards, urged the scholarship recipients to maximise the opportunity and praised Pa Shobo for his decades of contribution to chemical engineering development in Nigeria.

Anthony Shobo is widely regarded as a doyen of chemical engineering in Nigeria, and the foundation bearing his name has sustained its scholarship scheme to support students demonstrating academic excellence across Nigerian Universities.