The Nigerian flag systematically went up to the rooftop of the Birchwood
Hotel and Conference centre in Boksburg, Johannesburg, South Africa, last week,
when some Nigerian secondary school students drawn from Rivers, Benue and Akwa
Ibom held their own and won four awards at the Eskom Expo for Young
scientists.
The projects that won the awards for the Nigerian students,competed against
over 600 projects by students from South Africa and other African countries.
The students were sponsored by renowned technology company, Intel, as part of
its efforts to improve interest in science education and technology.
Calvary Arrows Secondary School, Gboko won a special award for innovation and
novelty in Engineering. This school located in a rural community developed a
multi-powered lawn mower that can be powered by electricity, batteries or solar
energy. They smiled home with two thousand Rand prize money. This is aside
another silver medal in the mechanical, aeronautic and Industrial Engineering
category.
Niger Delta Science College Port Harcourt won a bronze medal for their
investigation on an automatic multi-phase selector with a generating plant while
Community Secondary School Aka Ufot in Akwa Ibom state won another bronze medal
for their work in producing plastic materials from simple cassava extracts.
Corporate Affairs manager of Intel, Osagie Ogunbor reacting to the feats,
said that the performances of the students validate the relentless nature of the
Nigerian spirit in the face of daunting infrastructural challenges especially in
the Educational sector.
He said that besides flying Nigeria’s flag high in foreign land, the students
had also done Intel Nigeria proud for its investment not only in sponsoring them
to the fair but also organizing the annual National science fair for all
secondary school students in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development
Company.
The Eskom Expo for young scientists is over 30 years old and about the
biggest science fair for secondary schools in South Africa. Intel International
also has a Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), which holds annually in the
United States.