UNILAG wins debating championship tourney

The University of Lagos has emerged winners of the second All Nigerian Universities Debating Championship.

Messrs Nathan Odiase and Temitope Ojelade led the university to victory in the tournament.

The competition, which the university hosted, started on January 24, and ended on January 29, 2015.

The University of Calabar emerged second while the Imo State University came third in the competition, which featured 17 universities.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the UNILAG Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Rahamon Bello, thanked all the participants for their commitment to excellence..He said, “There are over 200 institutions and for us to have 17 universities shows that you people are the best and I want you to count yourselves lucky.”

Also, the Dean, Students’ Affairs Division, Prof. Tunde Babawale, who expressed joy that UNILAG hosted and won the championship, noted that it provided a platform for UNILAG students to sharpen their skills within the limited available resources.

Similarly, Mr. Victor Onuoha, who represented the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie, underscored the importance of the championship.

He also applauded the adjudicators, participating universities and UNILAG for being a wonderful host.

BRF quiz: and the Winner is...

A 14-year-old pupil of the State Senior High School, Ikeja, Lagos, Habeeb Musa, and 16-year-old, Mariam Lamidi, of the same school have emerged winners of
the Brighter Rewarding Future Quiz.

They defeated Mubarak Mohammed and Qudus Alabi of the Sango Senior Secondary School, Agege by scoring 2 points as against the 10 points scored by their opponents.

In the Junior Secondary School category, Festac Junior College, represented by Michael Abasi-Ifkere and Jimoh Iyanu-Oluwa scored 20 points to emerge winners of the competition.

They beat the pupils of the Government
Junior College, Ketu- Epe represented by Patricia Imarhia and Adetayo Adefarasin.
Community Nursery and Primary School, Ojo represented by Rachael Ayodele and Stella Ogugua emerged winners in the primary schools category beating Chisom Anyigor and Samuel Salami of the Maidan Primary School, Kosofe .

In the Best Individual Mathematics category, Mubarak Mohammed of the Sango Senior Secondary School,
Agege won, beating his schoolmate, Martins Ogundele, and Habeeb Musa of the State Senior High School, Ikeja to the second and third places respectively.

In the Special School category, Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care and Treatment Home, Bariga represented by Jadesola Mogaji and Taiwo Omotosho beat Solomon Omere and Eke Aleshi of the Down Syndrome Foundation of Nigeria and Adaobi Nwobi and Raiwi Uche of the National Orthopaedic School, Igbobi to the second and third positions respectively.

According to the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, the quiz was to develop the minds of the pupils.

“The competition also aims at creating a healthy rivalry among school children in primary, junior and senior secondary schools in public and private schools across the state and I am happy to report that it has gained ground and become so popular such that the level of awareness among the students and pupil is awesome.”

Oladunjoye also said the competition had brought to the fore areas where teachers need to focus on in the schools’ curricula for improvement and better performance of their pupils.

Courtesy: www.punchng.com

Etisalat calls for more funding of education sector

COMMITTED to promoting academic excellence among tertiary institution students in Nigeria, leading telecommunications giant, Etisalat recently rewarded some outstanding students of Nigerian higher institutions for their brave academic performances, through its education empowerment scheme, Etisalat Merit Awards that held at the Oriental Hotel Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the CEO Etisalat
Nigeria, Mr. Mathew Willsher said the award is a scholarship scheme designed to fulfill the company’s goal of empowering the society through knowledge acquisition and promoting education within Nigeria.

In his opening remarks, Willsher reiterated the importance of education and innovation to human development and improvement of the quality of human lives. He lamented the global illiteracy rate, which currently stands at one billion.

He also congratulated the 70 students drawn from seven universities in the country, describing them as the future of the Nigeria and adding that the country’s greatness in the area of innovation and scientific discoveries lay on their shoulders.

Speaking further, he canvassed private sector partnership for funding education in the country and argued that education is critical to development and should not be left exclusively to government to fund.

He added that this was why Etisalat Nigeria is involved with promoting education as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.

He said: “We are gathered here in recognition of the importance of education. It is sad that about one billion people can’t read globally. We
know that government is doing a lot in the area of funding and promoting education, but corporate organizations also have roles to play and this is why we focus on education as one of our corporate social responsibility initiatives.”

“The importance of education is further
underscored by the fact that studies have
shown that countries where less than 20 per cent go to school are less developed compared to others. Countries with less literacy rate miss out on a lot of things because they have a
community of people who can’t read,” he added.

Highpoints of the ceremony was the
innovation contest among the participating universities and the award ceremony proper.
Selected scholars of the five institutions made five-minute presentations of innovations of their choice.

Tagged The Etisalat Innovation Moment, the presentations were judged based on
adaptability, value, social impact, environmental impact and rate of feasibility. They were scored by a panel of judges.

The entry by Onohaebi Samuel, a 400-level undergraduate of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Benin was adjudged the best, and he emerged winner.

James Fagboun of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, and Eigbe Eghonghon of University of Lagos came second and third respectively.

While Samuel got N100, 000 and a HP
laptop for his efforts, Eghonghon and Fagboun won a Techno Phantom device each for their efforts. Besides, the participating students, 10 each from the seven schools that took part in
the contest, went home with N100, 000 each, while their schools were awarded N1.1 Million each courtesy of the telecommunication company.

Speaking after the ceremony, Samuel exuded happiness and said: “This is a dream come true for me. I have always wanted to be commended for my academic prowess and now that I have been so recognized, it would serve as a
motivation to do more, especially in the area of improving access to power for creative uses across all economic sectors.”