The Nation Newspaper

Tag: National Mathematical Centre (NMC)

  • Maths competition: Unilag student emerges overall best

    Mr Daniel Itsuokor, a 400 level student of mathematics, University of Lagos (Unilag) has emerged overall best out of 56 participants in mathematics competition organised by National Mathematical Centre (NMC).

    Unilag also triumphed over 14 other universities that participated in the competition.

    Prof. Stephen Onah, the Director/Chief Executive of NMC disclosed this during the closing ceremony of the competition on Friday in Sheda.

    Represented by Prof. Peter Onumaiye, the Coordinator, Mathematical Sciences Programme of the NMC, Onah said five participants won gold medals, nine got silver medals, while 14 went home with bronze medals out of the 56 participants.

    The director congratulated the participants for the performance and urged them to remain focused and be good ambassadors of mathematics.

    He advised the participants not to look at what they would benefit from working hard, rather, they should have goal or target and work hard to achieve it.

    Itsuokor, who spoke on behalf of other participants, expressed gratitude to the centre for the opportunity given them to exercise their capabilities in the knowledge of mathematics.

    The overall best attributed his success to hard work and determination and encouraged other students to embrace mathematics, saying studying the course was not so difficult as presumed by some students.

    Prof. Benjamin Oyelami, the Coordinator, Academic Planning, NMC, said the essence of the competition was to encourage students of mathematics to study hard and be ambassadors of the subject in the world.

    He said “Nigeria needs to be developed and to develop a nation, you need trained minds; minds that are innovative.

    “And that is the reason why your parents sent you to the university to develop your minds.”

    According to him, mathematics is the only science course that develops minds of people to be able to reason and develop things.

    “So, you have been trained and I believe that after your graduation as you go into the world, you will make Nigeria proud,” Oyelami said.

    He advised the medalists to continue to work hard “as to whom much is given, much is expected”.

    He encouraged other participants who could not win any medal not to lose hope, but have confidence in themselves.

    A total of 14 Nigerian universities took part in the 2018 National Mathematics Competition for university students which started on April 17.

    At institutional stage, Unilag came first, followed by Federal University of Technology Akure in second place, while University of Nigeria Nsukka claimed the third position.

    NAN

     

  • NMC pencils 73 students for National Olympiads award

    NMC pencils 73 students for National Olympiads award

    The National Mathematical Centre ( NMC ) has penciled 73 students who distinguished themselves in the 2017 National Mathematics and Sciences Olympiads Competitions for the year’s awards.

    Prof. Stephen Onah, the NMCs Director and Chief Executive, made the disclosure in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.

    He said that over 23,000 students participated in the competition and 73 of them came out the best; 12 females and 61 males.

    According to him, the award is aimed at acknowledging and encouraging young talents in mathematics and other science subjects towards their further development in the subjects.

    Onah also said that the schools and teachers that trained these students would be given awards.

    “The awards generally are more of incentives; an encouragement awards and support for excellent performance,’’ he said.

    The director noted that in the area of talent-hunt at the secondary level, the centre had been sole organiser of international mathematics and sciences Olympiads on an annual basis.

    Onah listed the Olympiads to include: international mathematics Olympiad, international physics Olympiad, international chemistry Olympiad, international biology Olympiad, international Olympiad informatics and Pan African mathematics Olympiad.

    He said that there was equal participation of boys and girls in all the Olympiads.

    Prof. Saporu Funmilayo, Coordinator, Statistics Programme of the centre, said that the competition was in three stages with the two stages done at state level and the final stage at the centre.

    Funmilayo noted that it was after the final stage of the qualifying examination that the best of all the participants were selected for award.

    He also said that the successful students would represent Nigeria at the 2018 International Mathematics and Sciences Olympiads Competition.

    “The examination was carried out in the 36 states including the FCT and the best students in the five science subjects such as mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry and informatics were selected for awards.

    “Also those students who represented the country last year will be given awards,’’ the director said.

    According to him, the national Olympiad award ceremony would hold on Nov. 9 at the centre located in Sheda, Kwali Area Council of the FCT.

    NAN

  • Centre plans platform to ease access to data on mathematical sciences

    Prof. Stephen Onah, the Chief Executive Officer of National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Kwali, Federal Capital Territory, says the centre plans to establish a repository platform for researchers in mathematical sciences.

    Onah said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday that the platform would ease  researchers’ access to a good data base on mathematical sciences.

    “Our centre’s  main library is also putting up what we call a repository platform whereby all researches that have been carried out by scientists at the centre will be deposited.

    “Where people from outside the centre would be able to come to the centre and access the materials as well as publications done by scientists at the centre.

    “We also intend to widen it by way of getting such materials from all Nigerian universities so that easy access to such materials will be provided.

    “And if we are able to get that, it will form a very good data base for researchers in this country in the area of mathematical sciences,’’ he explained.

    He also said that the centre had made effort to collaborate with some government agencies to improve Information Communications Technology (ICT) services at the centre.

    According to him, this will enable students of secondary  schools and the tertiary institutions  to access materials through the internet.

    Onah said the centre was discussing with some ICT service providers to improve the centre’s ICT services to attract students’ interest.

    “And we have made substantial progress in this regard such that before long we expect that very good ICT services are going to be found at the centre.’’

    He expressed optimism that the ICT project would be accomplished all things being equal.

  • Prof reveals why students fail maths in WAEC, NECO

    Prof reveals why students fail maths in WAEC, NECO

    The Chief Executive Officer at the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Prof. Stephen Onah, has blamed dismal performance of students in WAEC and NECO examinations in successive years on unqualified teachers in Mathematics.

    Onah disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that school proprietors draft non-professional teachers into teaching senior secondary students Mathematics for such important examinations.

    According to him, another factor responsible for poor performance of Nigerian students in Mathematics is the high standards maintained by WAEC and NECO with unqualified mathematics teachers teaching the subject.

    “The other factor is that because there are no enough hands to train students in this discipline persons from different areas of study even outside science-based areas are brought to teach the subject.

    “Because the WAEC and NECO which are of international standard will not lower their standard because Nigeria has not enough hands or qualified teachers to train its students.

    “They will always maintain their standard and so if we are not living up to that standard, that explains our poor performances,’’ he said

    The professor held the view that when the number of teachers is not equal to that of the students’ population effective teaching becomes a problem.

    He called for an increase in the incentives given to mathematics teachers, saying lack of motivation for teachers in critical subjects such as Mathematics is very common in nation’s system of education.

    Onah lauded the efforts of the current government at improving the quality and methodology of teaching at the different strata of education in the country, especially primary and secondary schools.

    The professor noted that there has been an improvement in both quality and quantity of teachers in Mathematics in the past two years,  but said a lot more can be done to shore up students’ performances in WAEC and NECO.

    “This is because there is some recognition; the teachers are beginning to see that they are being recognised for their work and they are putting in their very best.

    “Again the centre in its own way has been putting up programmes to facilitate the teaching of mathematics,” he said.

    He said the centre had developed mathematics modules on how best the subject should be taught and learned and this would be used throughout primary and secondary schools in the country.

    “ We have also produced a good number of textbooks in their simplified form which, if used or recommended at both the primary and secondary levels the learning of the subject would be better than what it is now”, the professor said.

  • SDGs: Collaborate with education stakeholders’ for funds -Don

    SDGs: Collaborate with education stakeholders’ for funds -Don

    Prof. Mamman Shuaibu, former Director of Planning, Federal Ministry of Education has called on all education stakeholders to contribute their quota to fund Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) projects.

    On how to improve learning of Mathematics, Shuaibu told journalists in Abuja on Wednesday that training of teachers and students should not be left for Federal Government alone.

    He urged the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) to ensure that all the Mathematics teachers in primary schools benefited from the ongoing training organised by the centre under SDGs programme.

    Shuaibu said that the training would help to open the mental ability of the children to cope with the learning of Mathematics.

    “Ultimately, we have to help the children to learn Mathematics because it is so fundamental to everything

    “ It is important that the training should not be limited to teachers and students in the city schools, but be extended to other teachers/students in the rural areas.

    “ Let all other teachers of Mathematics in every school in the country benefit from the training.

    He suggested that states and local governments as stakeholders should key into this by ensuring that staff members, who had been trained could train other teachers, who did not have such opportunity.

    According to him, the rural teachers are the ones that need the training most, but with limited fund, there is no way the mathematical centre can cover all the schools in the villages/ communities.

    “ Hence the need for the three tiers of governments to contribute to the funding of the project.

    “ SDGs funding should not be the sole responsibility of the Federal Government as both states and local governments have a stake in the educational funding,’’ he said.

    Besides, Mr Olatunji Jekayinfa, SDGs Desk Officer NMC, said that the centre embarked on a project which was the implementation and popularisation of mental arithmetic training across Nigeria basic school.

    Jekayinfa said the essence of the training was to train students on the easy ways of learning Mathematics so as to bring back the mental training which had been eroded.

    “From our research, we discover why advanced worlds perform well in the mathematical science; the reason is because they deal on mental arithmetic training.

    “ They expose their students’ right from childhood to mental arithmetic training which is done through the Chinese mental abacus.

    The abacus system of mental calculation is a system where users mentally visualise an abacus to do calculations.

    No physical abacus is used; only the answers are written down. Calculations can be made at great speed in this way.

    He said that after exposing the students to this kind of learning, it would help them cope with the learning of Mathematics easily.

    Jekayinfa, nevertheless, noted that one of the major challenges the centre had while carrying out the programme was the paucity of funding as well as insecurity in some parts of the country.