To me as a citizen of Nigeria I consider the mistreatment of late James Oitomen as one of the greatest injustice done to a patriot.

In his lifetime, he was a great organic scientist, engineer, innovator and inventor although he did not have formal education.

I first encountered him in the nineties when I was the science and technology editor of a newspaper.

On his invitation, I paid a working visit to his home in Uromi Town, headquarters of Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo State in Nigeria. What I saw marvelled me.

James Oitomen had developed three technologies for solving human challenges. With one of the technologies was a remote terminal with which he could control his radio in the parlour from his bedroom.

Also, he demonstrated for me a mechanical device for planting seeds and grains; as well as another one for fetching water from a dug well. All these inventions were done in his home which he deployed as a research and work station.

Subsequently, James Oitomen developed several technologies which included a smart, automatic Garri fryer and a water heater.

Of interest and focus here is the water heater which is tangentially different from the conventional water boiling ring. Both can be used to boil water. However, the harmless water heater of James Oitomen functions in a unique, way. It only works in the presence of water in a bowl. So, when switch on, current flows to the ring of the water hester but the current is de-activated by the ring in the absence of water.

But when the ring is in water, the current is activated by the ring and the heating process of the water begins to boiling point.

What a novelty!! The innovation in the harmless water heater is that you can hold the ring of the water heater in your hand when the device is switched on without suffering any burns. Also; since the water heater only works in and with water. It does not cause fires in homes if you forget to switch off the heater.

Once there is no more water in the bowl, the device stops working. In contrast, if you leave home and forget to switch off the conventional boiling ring, this leads to fires at home.

No one else except James Oitomen has developed such a harmless water heater for safely boiling water. He holds the sole copyright to the product.

Well, the tragedy is that during his lifetime all effort by him to get governments and individuals' support to establish a factory for producing the harmless water heater failed.

In his search for helpers to industrialise his harmless water heater, James Oitomen met Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, the former military administrator of Edo State , Lt. Col Onuka, willing civilian Governor Lucky Igbinedion and Chief Tony Anenih among others.

Nothing came out of his encounters with them. A prophet is not accepted at home! Maybe.

Given the complacent attitude to his invention, James Oitomen remained relatively unknown even in Nigeria let alone across the world.

Meanwhile, his counterparts elsewhere with innovations attained national and global prominence through the support of their governments and countrymen.

For instance, tell me. Is there any one in the world who doesn't know Helen Keller, born deaf and dumb, but founded braille? No.

How about Alfred Nobel from Sweden. He rose to fame after inventing explosives. Louis Pasteur, the french researcher, was a nobody until he developed the penicillin a first generation antibiotic. Then, he become a world celebrity.

Michael Faraday discovered electricity while Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. Both innovators are adored by everyone today.

Baron Ibn Drais in 1817 made the first bicycle now ridden across the globe. You can hardly find a country where there is no bicycle while those with a sense of history never fail to pay glowing tribute to Baron Ibn Drais the inventor of the bicycle.

When you talk of the father of green revolution, the name Norman Borlang pops up. He is the Mexican who developed dwarf, short-term disease resistant high-yielding straIns of grains which assisted the world to stem famine in the 20th century. The agriculture and allied industry celebrate Norman Borlang today for his breakthrough in the sixties.

Lt. Gen Mikhail Kalasnikov is a Russian military officer who invented AK-47 assault rifle that is not only simple and easy to manipulate but reliable in harsh conditions. His experience during the second world war helped him in designing the weapon in use all over the world.

What these great globally celebrated innovators and inventors have done is nothing different from that of James Oitomen. Yet, he is not given the same expensive attention all because his country intentionally ignored his monumental invention. It was only accorded empty platitudes and eulogies by his country.

Yes, as an update be informed that former powerful military president, General Ibrahim Babangida only shook the hand of James Oitomen at an exhibition while praising him for inventing the harmless water heater. Nothing more! A mere handshake

But we need to know that despite all the global hate heaped on Adolf Hitler, the German leader, it was during his rule that he mobilised his people to produce the Volkswagen car.

Out of myopic miscalculation, Edo State and Nigeria may think they lose nothing from not industrializing James Oitomen's harmless water heater. This is untrue. If a factory producing the water heater was established long ago, there would have been no need to import the unsafe boiling rings by now. The factory would have met local and foreign export demand resulting in huge revenue inflows in the form of excise duty as well as export tax on the product.

This is what is happening in other countries. For example, producers of Gala, started in 1962, have enriched their country with immeasurable revenue. Coca-Cola has done same since 1885 the beverage was developed by John Pemberton.

Guinness Stout began production in 1759. Grab your calculator. You will find the big revenue it has generated for the United Kingdom for the past 66 years.

Similarly, the Nano vehicles of India, the Toyota cars of Japan, the explosives of Alfred Nobel from Sweden and the AK-47 assault rifles of Russia invented by Lt. Gen Mikhail Kalasnikov in 1947 have all generated immense revenue for their respective countries and governments.

So, why should we as Nigerians continue to look down on the harmless water heater of James Oitomen? Remember, we treated our Nifor palm plantation in Edo State with similar disdain. Then, the people of Malaysia came for its palm oil seedlings and today the country is among the front runners in palm oil production.

The irony is that Malaysia an underdog in palm oil production now export palm oil to Nigeria!! What a shame.

It is time to demonstrate true repentance for our past development errors by industrializing James Oitomen's harmless water heater as a great fitting honour to the Edo innovator and patriot.

This is therefore calling on Governor Monday Okpebholo to immediately liaise with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the children of late James Oitomen to work out ways of commercializing the harmless water heater. Such a move will certainly enable Nigeria take a giant step forward in its march to industrialization.