MSc in Environmental Engineering
Current position: Programme Manager and Technical Advisor on Urban Environment and Water, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Nigeria
Research focus: sustainable urban development
Sadiq advises the Japanese government in formulating, implementing and managing the different official development assistance programmes in Nigeria that will support Nigeria’s sustainable urban development and take a cue from the development profile of Japan while aiming for the achievement of SDGs. The projects are cutting across urban water management, solid waste, urban and regional planning, transportation, and exploring and promoting new cooperation models such as working with local start-ups and business incubators in addressing challenges of sustainable cities in Nigeria. He has been implementing green building concepts and supporting LEED certification of buildings as environmentally friendly.
2016 Green Build International Conference and Expo Scholarship Recipient from the United States Green Building Council, United States of America
2012-2014 Pan African University Scholarship from the African Union Commission
CV as submitted for the Green Talents award (2015):
Pan African University, Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation, Kenya
Research focus: development of a mathematical model to predict the indoor temperature of green roofed urban buildings in Sub-Saharan Africa
With a background in Civil Engineering, Sadiq is now focusing his studies on Environmental, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Engineering. His Master’s research focuses on modelling and simulation of green roofs to reduce the energy cooling of urban buildings.
Using his knowledge in thermodynamics, Sadiq developed a mathematical model that will be used to predict the indoor temperature of green roofed urban buildings in sub-Saharan Africa. Sadiq started his academic career studying Civil Engineering at the Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, now he holds a Master’s degree in Environmental, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Engineering, obtained in Kenya. He received, as a pioneer, the African Union Commission’s Pan African University Postgraduate Scholarship for his Master’s research projects. After attending the Innovation Summer Programme at the University of Tokyo last summer, he is leveraging on the programme through the application of innovative thinking and continuous multidisciplinary approach to the PhD proposal he is developing. This proposal is geared towards modelling and simulation of building energy and modification by inclusion of green surfaces to existing urban built environments, all in a bid to achieve sustainable environments.
Sadiq’s master’s research required a diverse application of knowledge from four main disciplines: horticulture, thermodynamics, meteorology and engineering. Sadiq’s motivation for incorporating nature in the urban built environment is fuelled by the necessity to make neighbourhoods more human and eco-friendly, thus creating living neighbourhoods. Green roofs have numerous benefits aside from reducing energy consumption of buildings and saving costs of energy bills. They have aesthetic value, they contribute to combating urban heat islands, they reduce storm water runoff and, in some cases, they can be used for urban rooftop farming. It also offsets greenhouse gas emissions arising from building construction. A large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions have been attributed to buildings. Sadiq states that sustainable development in the building sector can only be achieved with net-zero energy buildings.
The jury was impressed by Sadiq’s efforts to achieve sustainable urban buildings in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as by his interdisciplinary approach to the future of urban buildings in general. Participating in the Green Talents Forum will be a great chance for him to meet researchers with different backgrounds to discuss the future of sustainable living in urban spaces.
