A Lagos-based non-profit organisation, engineering.fit( ), is providing free machine learning research training and mentorship to engineering students and young professionals in Nigeria to help them develop practical skills and publish research papers.

Founded in March 2024 by Lagos-based machine learning engineer Abdullateef Opeyemi Bakare, the initiative seeks to address the challenges faced by engineering students who have limited access to research laboratories, experienced mentors and opportunities to participate in practical research.

According to the organisation, its programme connects learners with mentors, real-world research problems and free training designed to help them develop the skills needed to conduct and publish research.

The initiative said participants working with Bakare had produced five research papers, including three submitted to the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition in 2025 and 2026, and two published in journals.

The research topics include oil spill detection, fuel cell performance, walking gait analysis and oil and gas production forecasting.

In another development, Bakare, who mentors young professionals through the SPE Lagos Section, guided three early-career engineers in preparing their first research papers.

Two of the papers were presented at the SPE Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition 2026. They were identified as SPE-235028-MS, focusing on crude oil and condensate production forecasting, and SPE-235029-MS, examining gas utilisation and revenue forecasting.

The non-profit has also launched a free online Learning Lab at learninglabs.engineering-fit.org, offering four courses covering Python to Artificial Intelligence (AI), Control Engineering, AI Automation and AI Content Creation.

The courses combine lessons, quizzes and practical applications to help beginners develop relevant skills. The organisation said its coding courses allow learners to run Python directly in their web browsers without installing additional software.

Explaining the initiative’s approach, Bakare said the goal was to introduce learners to the research process as quickly as possible by equipping them with the fundamental skills required to work on practical problems.

“The focus of engineering.fit( ) is to get learners involved in the research process as fast as possible. As most learners are complete beginners, this follows that we must equip them with fundamental skills needed for the research as fast as we can,” he said.

He added that the organisation prioritised practical experience over achieving mastery before learners could participate in research.

“Rather than focusing on mastery, we focus on experience. Mastery is a natural consequence of experience and repetition,” Bakare said.

Bakare has an academic background spanning Physical and Health Education and Mechanical Engineering. He studied Physical and Health Education at Lagos State University, where he graduated first among 56 students in 2019, before earning a first-class degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2024. He also finished first among 75 students and was named the best graduating student in his programme.

The founder has eight research papers listed on Google Scholar. He also served as a poster judge at Deep Learning Indaba 2025 in Kigali, Rwanda, and judged the Nexus Energy Hackathon in 2024 and 2025.

Through its research mentorship and online learning programmes, engineering.fit( ) aims to expand access to machine learning education and help more young Nigerian engineers gain practical research experience and contribute to scientific publications.

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