Indigenous engineer develops eco-friendly whiteboard ink to ease teaching in Nigeria

By Ebuwa Godwin 

An Indigenous engineer, Patrick Nwosibe has beaten thousands of contestants Nationwide by winning the 2025 Engineering innovation price award.  

The innovation award was instituted by the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) Abeokuta Branch in honor of the 12th President of the Nigeria Society of Engineers and Past Vice President, of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Philip Bolude Oyebolu. 

The competition was open to Engineers, Scientists and Innovators across the country and  Nwosibe submission beat others to emerge the top after  scoring 79 percent. 

Nwosibe’s invention was Refillable White Board Ink known as Nobel Refill Ink which relates to the area of sustainable teaching materials is the first made in Nigeria non- toxic white Board marker Ink.

He revealed that the Key Features of the invention are refillable and reusable, Bio- resource based, Customizable colors and viscosity, Eco-friendly and cost-effective, enhanced readability with specialized additives, Compatible with various whiteboard surfaces among others.

Nwosibe outlined that this ink is the first made in Nigeria white board marker ink from local raw materials as all other ink in the market is imported from China and India.

According to him the Summary of Invention lies on the refillable non-toxic white board marker being produced entirely from locally sourced materials with vibrant pigment. 

He explained that the ink is made especially for educational institutions, offices and home use.

“Our ink has the unique feature of using a toxic-free solvent (ethanol and methanol) to replace toxic ones like xylene and toluene which are harmful to the health of the users. 

“The product is bio dependent as its major material gum Arabic is obtained from a tree. It is available in different colors. It promotes the efficient use of local materials that have no health hazards and reduces plastic pollution around our environment by reusing the same Marker pen rather than a replacement.

“It is easy to refill into an exhausted marker pen or a new one. Its eligibility and readability are top-notch . Our product was patented by the federal government of Nigeria in 2024.

“The Problem We are Solving 

Over 4 billion white board marker pens used in Nigeria annually by educational institutions is imported (20 billion in Africa). 

“The imported maker pens contain toxic chemicals like toluene and xylene which are injurious to the health of the users, the used marker pen contribute to environmental pollution due to disposal of the plastic waste and creates negative balance of trade to our economy. 

In Nigeria, there are over  300,000 educational institutions. These institutions spends over 500billion annually on imported marker pen. 

“Moreover, 100 million tons and 2.5 million tons of plastic waste are generated annually in Africa and Nigeria respectively. Our solution will focus on solving these two major problems of reducing plastic waste and reducing capital flight and negative balance of trade due to ink importation.”

“Our advantage over our competitors is that we are the only indigenous company producing marker ink in Nigeria and Africa. We also have direct access to educational institutions to create awareness of our product.