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  • Mathematics contest produces winners

    Mathematics contest produces winners

    How does it feel to work out calculations without using a calculator?

    That is what the Mathematics simple competition all about.

    The grand finale of the contest held at the The Gem Int’l school, Owode, Ogun State featured 23 finalists, following their survival at the knockout stage which had 42 students that participated in rigorous mathematical questions that involved calculation but without a calculator.

    The contest courtesy of Our Generation Foundation (OGF) a NGO, saw Akinjoye Oluwasola Samuel from The Gem Int’l school topped others with 59 point. Durojola Olabode Stephen from Owode Secondary School emerged second with 56 points, while Taiwo Lateefah Ololade from Gem Int’l school came third position with 49 points.

    Akinsola the star winner, won a medal Mathematics textbook and N5,000 cash prize.

    Durojola also clinched a medal, mathematics textbook and N3,000, while second runners up also won a medals, one mathematics textbook with N2,000.

    According to the organiser, the competition started on October in Owode area with 58 pupils from 12 school (five participants pet school).

    The overall winner Akinjoye Samuel said: “I thank God for giving me the opportunity to participate in this competition because it has really helped me and my co-contestants to know mathematics better than before most especially in pursuit of my chemical Engineering career.”

    Similarly, Olabode said: “The secret behind my performance is prayer and lots of commitments because mathematics needs lots of commitment to keep it rolling. I wish to be a mathematician in future and this competition has really helped me.”

    The initiator Mr Oluwaseun Odumusi told The Nation that the competition was meant to address the fear pupils have with Mathematics.

    He said: “The high level of failure in Mathematics recorded over the years coupled with the fear of pupils that Mathematics is difficult and can never be solved without the use of a calculator.

    “We found out that most pupils have problems in mathematics, so we felt that organising this kind of competition enables students to be motivated by bringing them together from different schools to compete and also for many of them to learn in the process.

    Odumusi’s wife Mrs Gbojubola Christiana, said though holding the competition was not easy, they were able to manage do so with the little resources they had.

     

  • Certiport competition produces winners

    wo schools have dominated the fifth Certiport National Competition on Microsoft Office for Students (MOS) for the umpteenth time since Readmanna Ventures started organising the ICT contest in Nigeria in 2007.

    When prizes are presented at a ceremony holding in Benin City in November, it will be pupils from Thomas Adewunmi International College, Oko in Kwara State and The Regent Secondary School, FCT, Abuja that will cart away most of them.

    Competing against 10 other schools, pupils of both schools proved their proficiency in the application of Microsoft Office programmes namely: Word, Excel and PowerPoint (2007 and 2010 Versions) during the live finals held in Lagos and Abuja penultimate week.

    At the Lagos final, pupils of Thomas Adewunmi International College carted away most of the awards in the 2007 versions of the three software applications: Word, Excel and PowerPoint, like they have done since 2007.

    Mayokun Ajagbonna scored 867/1000 in a time of 16 minutes 36 seconds to take the first position in the Word 2007 category. Wisdom Igiogbe who had the same score followed in the second position because he finished in 33 minutes and 02 seconds. In third place is Mansur Olaitan who scored 833/1000 in 30 minutes 26 seconds.

    The school also produced the three winners for the Excel 2007 category – with Ibukunoluwa Adebara (923/1000) coming first; Oluwapelumi Adeboye (885/1000), second; and Grace Hameed (846/1000) third.

    In PowerPoint 2007, Ebenezer Briki-Okolosi (967) and Oghenefejiro Omu (933) of Thomas Adewumi came first and second, while Tobi Alafin of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos State (733) came third.

    Regent dominated the 2010 versions of the Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications.

    Imran Marwa won the Word category with 885 in 22 minutes 24 seconds, edging Tariq Memudu of Thomas Adewumi International College, Oko, Kwara State who had the same score but finished in four minutes 32 seconds later to second position. Olumide Fagboyegun of Regent who also scored 885, came third with a time of 28 minutes 42 seconds.

    Ahmad Abubakar (800), Hanifah Salik (800) and Oluwaseyi Alao, all of Regent, won the Excel 2010 while Mohammed Baba-Ahmed (914), Fatimah Bello (893), Sidhant Bendre (871) won the PowerPoint category for the same school.

    Emmanuel Ogbu of Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Enugu State, the only undergraduate in the final, won the tertiary category, scoring 833 in Word 2007 in time of 41 minutes 9 seconds.

    Speaking on the competition, Managing Director of Readmanna Ventures, Mrs Edna Agusto said its objective is to “encourage our schools to include the acquisition of basic computer skills in their curriculum, which would provide the students with computing expertise they need and after they graduate.”

     

  • Warri Wolves emerge LBA Q2 winners

    Warri Wolves emerge LBA Q2 winners

    Warri Wolves have been named the second winners of the Q-Award organised by the League Bloggers Awards (LBA).

    The Q-Award is a quarterly reward system to decorate clubs that finish top of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) standings.

    Kano Pillars were the first to win the Q-Award this season when they finished top of the league log after Week 10.

    This time, Wolves overtook Kano Pillars for the Q2 by amassing 21 points.

    Wolves were by far the best team for the second quarter, which ran between Weeks 11 and 19.

    The Warri club lost just two games to Lobi Stars and Wikki Tourists during the period under review to edge Kano Pillars and Kwara United on 17 points apiece.

    Though Warri Wolves were awarded three points and three goals from the fallout of the abandoned tie against Akwa United by the League Management Company (LMC), the club would have still finished on 18 points in the second quarter, one ahead of Kano Pillars and Kwara United.

    During their fine run up to winning the LBA Q2, the Warri club scored 18 goals in nine games, more than any other NPFL club and also put together a streak of five wins on the bounce.

    They claimed the scalp of big teams like Dolphins, Kano Pillars, 3SC, Sunshine Stars and capped it up with a 2-0 win at modest outfit, ABS.

    The third quarter of the Q-Award will kick off on July 3 and will run from Weeks 20 to 29 of the NPFL calendar.

    The LBA has divided the current NPFL season into four quarters to help track winners for the Q-Award.

    The LBA has been in the forefront of organising a reward system for the actors in the Nigerian top flight since 2009.

    The Quarters & Winners

    Week 1-10: Kano Pillars

    Week 11-19: Warri Wolves

    Week 20-29

    Week 30-38

  • Maths contest opens chances for winners

    Maths contest opens chances for winners

    Winning this year’s Cowbell National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC) has opened up some opportunities for the 20 finalists rewarded at a prize giving ceremony at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, last Thursday.

    In addition to the cash, trophies, plaques, laptops, textbooks and product prizes given them by Promasidor Nigeria Limited, organisers of the contest, the winners will represent Nigeria at different international mathematics Olympiads holding between August and September.

    The Director/Chief Executive Offocer, National Mathematical centre (NMC), Abuja, Prof Adewale Solarin announced that all of them would be invited to the training camp for selection of the candidates to represent Nigeria in the Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO) holding later in the year. Also, the top four winners of the competition will have the privilege of forming the Cowbell team for the competition.

    To top it all, the winner of the junior category of the competition, Iyoha Omonzokpia of Loyola Jesuit College, Gidan Mangoro, Abuja, was offered a scholarship worth N3 million for his senior secondary education at the NMC International Model Science Academy, Abuja.

    A deputy director at the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, and International Coordinator, Mathematics Competition, Dr Abbas Adedibu, also said the top four winners in both categories will represent Nigeria at the World Mathematics Competition holding in South Korea and Beijing, China this year.

    On its part, Promasidor, sponsors of the competition, will be taking Iyoha and senior category winner, Akindele Oyedele, of Iganmode Grammar School, Ota, Ogun State, on an all expense paid holiday outside Nigeria.

    This is in addition to cash prizes of N300,000 for Akindele, and N250,000 for Iyoha; five desktop computers and a printer each for their schools, and cash awards for their teachers.

    Second placed winner in the senior category, Lois Adegbohungbe of Reality High School, Ilesa, Osun State was rewarded with N250,000, and three computers and a printer for her school; while the third placed winner, Nnamdi Obasi of the University of Nigeria Secondary School, Enugu got N200,000 and two computers and printer for his school.

    In the junior category, Samuel Omojola of Reality High School, Osun State came second and won N200,000, while Caleb Amulah got N150,000 for coming third.

    However, no matter the success they would enjoy because of their brilliance, Managing Director, Promasidor, Chief Keith Richards (OBE), counseled the pupils to value their integrity better.

    Speaking at a welcome dinner on the night before the award, Richards said passing exams is not enough.

    “Being a successful human is not about passing exams; it is about being a honest person; respecting integrity; being truthful. If you can combine your love for mathematics with integrity, honesty, transparency, I think I will be happy to visit you when you become the president,” he said.

    In his speech at the ceremony, Richards added that Promasidor is very proud of the competition, particularly because it has achieved a malpractice-free record in its 13 years of existence.

    “It might interest you to know that we have not had a leakage of NASSMAC question papers since inception and the participating schools completely trust our body of examiners who are responsible for grading the results. We are very proud of this feat and we pledge to sustain it,” he said.

     

  • Winners, losers of the battle for NGF

    Winners, losers of the battle for NGF

    The outcome of last Friday’s battle for the chair of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) has continued to generate ripples across the country. But one thing that is certain is that it has produced winners and losers, writes AUGUSTINE AVWODE 

     

    Winners

    Rotimi Amaechi

    Leading the pack of the winners is Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi. He was able to retain his position as chairman of the Forum in the face of a massive opposition, particularly, from his party. He scored 19 votes to beat Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang with 16 votes.

     Pro-Amaechi governors

    There is no doubt that the support of the 11 progressive governors led by Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi turned the table in favour of the winner. To that extent, they too, are winners. They include all the governors of the Action Congress Nigeria (ACN), those of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the governors of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). As the progressive lawmakers in the House of Representatives swung the pendulum in favour of Aminu Tambuwal during the election of the Speaker, the governors played the decisive card for Amaechi last Friday. The seven other PDP governors who stood by Amaechi are also winners.

     Losers

    Jonathan

    The general perception is that Amaechi’s problems stemmed from his face-off with President Goodluck Jonathan. To that extent, it is believed he wanted another person as the chairman of the NGF. But Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Rueben Abati last weekend dissociated his boss from the crisis in the NGF.

    He said contrary to the impression of presidential partisanship and interference, Jonathan is not interested in whoever emerged as chairman. The popular view, however, remains that the president was a major loser in the contest.

     PDP Governors’ Forum

    Perhaps, the greatest losers are the PDP governors, who went into the contest as a unit under the aegis of the PDP Governors Forum (PDP-GF). Notwithstanding their numerical advantage, they were floored.

    PDP, Tukur, Anenih

    The PDP as a party, its chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and its Board of Trustees chair, Chief Tony Anenih also ‘tacitly’ supported the operation-get-rid-of-Amaechi- from-the-NGF-leadership project. The outcome has obviously jolted them.

     Shema and Yuguda

    Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema and his Bauchi State counterpart, Isa Yuguda can also be said to be losers. The fact that neither agreed to step down for the other marked the beginning of the end for the anti- Amaechi forces in the Forum. Their refusal to yield to entreaties led to the emergence of Governor Jonah Jang, who 48 hours to the election was not in the picture of those to contest the position.

     Jang

    His choice as a compromise candidate came rather late and he lost the race. Even though the PDP governors have rallied round him, the result did not favour him.

     Akpabio

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio is also in the league of the losers. He failed to rally his colleagues in the Forum he leads to actualise the wish of the party, despite their numerical strength. He played a prominent role in the campaign against Amaechi’s second term.

     Obi

    Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, who doubles as the chairman of the Southeast Governors, said the region’s governors would not support Amaechi. He reiterated the stance on Sunday, when he declared that four of the five governors in the region were for Jang.

     Imoke

    Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke, who leads the Southsouth Governors, also failed to rally his colleagues in the region to speak with one voice.

     

     

     

     

  • Police Games: ‘Winners will be champions of tomorrow’

    Police Games: ‘Winners will be champions of tomorrow’

    The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.D. Abubakar has commended the federal government and other partners who contributed to the great success of the 10th Biennial Police Games, Port Harcourt 2013 concluded on Saturday.

    Speaking during the closing ceremony of the event that set the Garden City afire for a week, the IGP noted that the best of the Police was witnessed and hoped that the winners would take advantage of their successes to become better athletes.

    He said: “The best of the Nigeria Police has been displayed. Friendships have been strengthened, comradeship has been seen, and excellence has been promoted. This edition has lived up to expectations. With this, I’m able to declare that the winners at this event will become the champions of tomorrow in their respective sports.

    “To the champions, I will charge you not to rest on your oars, believing you have arrived. This is just the beginning. As a sportsman myself, I know that it is easier to get to the top, but whether you can remain there is what is the issue. Be sure that you work harder, as you have done to be able to become legends.”

    Abubakar also admonished those who didn’t win medals. He said: “To the losers, I enjoin you to improve on your strategies; remember, you cannot be doing the same thing repeatedly and expect a different result”.

    The rest of the IGP’s speech was dedicated to appreciating the FG, security agencies, corporate organisations, individuals and all who made the game a success.

    “Let me use this opportunity to thank my boss, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of Nigeria and His Excellency, the vice president, Arc Namadi Sambo and His excellency, the governor of Rivers State and other governors for their support.

    “In the same vein, let me extend appreciation to the Nigeria Police, those corporate organisations and the noble individuals who, even in the face of daunting national challenges, partnered with us in hosting this game.

    “May I also recognise the participation of our sister agencies and also note that this kind of hospitality is what is needed to break down the age-long barriers; there is no doubt that the organising committee of this event did a great job”.

  • Toyota Dream Car winners emerge

    The third edition of the Toyota annual Dream Car Art Contest for Nigerian children has been held.

    The initiative, organised by Toyota in Nigeria, has aimed at availing the children an opportunity to give expression to their budding creative talents.

    Over one thousand children, who enlisted in the contest held in Abuja and Port Harcourt.

    Participation in the contest spanned primary and secondary school students cutting across three different age categories of 10-15.

    Renowned art teachers and professionals converged in each of the centers to carefully select three winning entries from each category. From the 27 winning entries selected from the three centers, nine winning entries were finally selected using environmental friendliness, futuristic and originality as criteria. These entries will be forwarded to Japan to represent Nigeria at the global contest.

    While Abdulsalam Abdulbasit led in the first category of children of about 10 years.

    In the second Category, Idusogie Osarhuguemwen emerged winner. And so did Ulasika Ifeanyi Stanley.

    At the awards presentation held in Toyota Nigeria head office held in Lekki, Lagos, the Managing Director Mr Chandrasheker Krishnadas Thampy congratulated the winners who emerged from the competition,

    Mr Thampy also thanked the parents and teachers of the winning pupils for encouraging their wards to participate in the laudable project. He added that Toyota will continue to identify with such projects that will give needed boost to the mental growth of the Nigerian child as this will go a long way in securing a great future for the country.

  • Special prizes for Cowbell Maths winners

    In celebration of its 20th anniversary this year, the management of Promasidor Nigeria has promised special prizes for winners of this year’s edition of the Cowbell National Secondary Schools Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC).

    Announcing the start of registration for the competition, Commercial Director, Mr Kachi Onubogu, said at a briefing held at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja that many more pupils will benefit this year as each school would be allowed to field three pupils each for the junior and senior secondary categories.

    “Promasidor also increased the number of entries to three students. It will give more outstanding students the opportunity to take part and win amazing branded 20th anniversary year gifts and prizes,” he said.

    Onubogu said the first stage of the competition will take place on March 16 in 200 centres nationwide, adding that the company is targeting 40,000 participants this year, which is the 13th edition. The best two candidates in each state will be invited for a second stage in May while an award ceremony for the winners will take place later in the year.

    Speaking on the objective of the competition, Onibogu said the aim is to awaken the consciousness and interest in mathematics among secondary school pupils in Nigeria.

    “We at Promasidor Nigeria through our flagship brand, Cowbell milk have remained committed to our passion towards improving the overall performance of mathematics amongst the students of our beloved country, Nigeria, while nourishing our tomorrow’s leaders with wholesome healthy milk brands,” he said.

    He said that in 2001, NASSMAC became a national competition covering the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. Over the space of five years, Promasidor has been able to increase the participation in the competition from about 16,000 to 35,000 participants which shows a consistent growth in the number of students who take the test every year and their aim of students this year is 40,000.

    The Cowbell NASSMAC is open to pupils from 10 to 18 years in JSS3 and SS2 attending full-time secondary schools in Nigeria.

     

  • Winners of Robotic competition for Malaysia

    Winners’ International School, Bayelsa and Alofos Foundation, Surulere, Lagos, will represent Nigeria at the World Robotic Olympiad in Malaysia, next month.

    The schools defeated 45 others that competed at the national level competition held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Winners’ International school emerged winner in the regular category for Elementary schools while Alofos Foundation School won in the Open and Regular Categories for Senior High schools.

    Tayo Obasanya, managing director of Arc Light Limited, the firm that organised the competition on behalf of Lego, noted that the essence of the programme is to engage children aged 0-19 years in robotic education to promote their knowledge of science and technology which will make them more competitive in future.

    He said: “Whether you like it or not, in the next few years, the world is going to be different and one of the changing factors will be science and technology. Today our children are exposed to science and we are hoping that with events like this, we will grab their minds and engage them early.”

    Commissioner for Science and Technology, Lagos State Adebiyi Mabadeje while commenting on the programme said the competition which cuts across the three arms of school, primary, junior secondary and senior secondary, stimulates pupils to get ideas on how they can do things creatively, adding that it will improve their reasoning and thinking.

    Mabadeje said Lagos State would support any initiative that stimulate pupils scientifically.

    “The government will always be in support of any cause that is geared towards developing the knowledge base of the children. One of our focus is to strengthen the educational sector and this is one way we hope to do that. We partner with the private sector to do so because government cannot do it all alone,” Mabadeje said.

    On her part, General Manager, Arc Light Limited, Adebusola Adeniyi said pupils should ditch rote learning for practical skills.

    “The students should not just cram to pass. They should be able to build things and solve problems. They should know the solutions to these problems without having to cram. This is what Lego education is doing.”

    She called on corporate organisations to support disadvantaged children participation adding, that there are more potential competitors in public schools but who have no sponsors

     

  • African Liberty.org/The Nation essay winners get prizes

    African Liberty.org/The Nation essay winners get prizes

    To travel to Kenya

    The winners of the essay contest organised by AfricanLiberty.org in conjunction with The Nation newspaper have been presented with their prizes. The presentation ceremony was held in Computer Auditorium, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) last Monday.

    The competition, which was put together for students in African countries, was held between June 7 and July 20 with three topics – The Predatory State: Its Origin and Implication for Economic Growth; Statism or Free Markets: An Essential Ingredient for Africa’s Economic Growth?; Protectionism or Trade: Alternatives for Africa’s Economic Growth.

    The winners of the essay were announced on August 9. They are Moses Oluwanifise (first prize), OAU, Nicholas Omoh (second prize), University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Dave Mankhokwe (third prize), University of Malawi. Hannah Ojo, OAU, and Marcus Adeniyi, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) shared the fourth prize.

    Moses, who also won the 2011 edition of the essay, received $1,000 cash prize and scholarship to attend a Free Society conference in Kenya. Other first, second and their runners up also received $750, $500 and $300 with return tickets to Kenyan conference.

    The presentation also featured a seminar tagged From poverty and serfdom to prosperity and freedom. The African Liberty Organization is an initiative for Africans who want genuine development for Africa. They establish African Liberty Student Foundation in different universities and also organize seminars and essay competitions in collaboration with the schools and newspaper.

    The Director of Outreach of Africa Liberty Organisation, Mr Adedayo Thomas, urged the students embrace free market economy, which he said remained the solution Nigeria’s developmental problem. He noted that the competition, which has been on for three years, recorded its largest entries with about 221 students applied from various African countries. He said 197 entries were later accepted.

    Thomas said the aim of the essay was to develop the interest of students in practical economic issues which will bring them out of poverty. He said the organisation also promoted reading culture among students, which is why it always donates free books to higher institutions and secondary schools in Nigeria.

    Equally present at the ceremony were the Dean Faculty of Arts, Prof. Salami represented by Prof. Segun Adekoya, The Dean Students Affairs, Dr.Mrs Durosinmi able represented by Mrs I.F Awofoye; The Head Counselling Unit, DSA, Mrs C.B Obisakin; Mrs A.O Awofisayo, members of Moses Class, friends and well wishers.

    Moses told CAMPUSLIFE: “I have been writing essay since my 100-Level days and the last year edition was the first time I won any essay prize. It is not all the time you win but participating is the most important thing.”

    Hannah, who was visibly elated, said: “When you do something, you expect result; so I am very grateful that I was among the winners.”

    The programme was ended with donation of books to OAU main library. The students that attended the presentation were also given free compact disc containing information about the organisation and over 80 texts on political economy.