Bukola Olatunji
9 September 2008
Lagos — Plateau State is known for its high production of the nourishing Irish potato. But for Mrs. Beskeni Rhoda Danjuma, a Chemistry Teacher at the Federal College of Education, Pankshin, the rounded tuber is more than food. It contains electrolytes. Using zinc nail and copper wire as electrode, and two tubers of Irish potato as electrolyte, therefore, she designed a battery that powered a digital clock.
"I was thinking of how to teach Chemistry using locally-sourced materials", says Danjuma, who has taught the subject for 19 years. "This project can be developed on a large scale to produce batteries without using the dangerous materials that we have today."
She entered the project for the Teachers' (Free Choice) Project category of this year's Mobil/STAN Science competition that was held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State recently and came first, winning a cash prize of N100, 000.
Another Chemistry Teacher at the Federal Government College, Okigwe, Imo State, Mr. Hillary Chukwunwike Obayi came second with two projects. The first was, 'Mastering the names, atomic numbers and chemical formulae of the first 40 elements of the periodic table' (the table is to Chemistry was the alphabets are to English Language). The second was 'Making the teaching/learning processes of Chemistry more interesting through improvisation'.
Mr. Abdulsalam Abdulrahman, who also teaches Chemistry at the Ansar-ud-deen Comprehensive High School, Ondo came third with his 'Production of (ACORM (an acronym of the school's name) Insecticide and Colours from Plants. Both he and Obayi got N50, 000 each for their efforts.
Students and pupils were not left out. The theme for this year's school project was 'Water Treatment Device'. In the primary school category, the duo of Eseosa Favour Iyagbaye and Jane Evbuomwan, pupils of Children's Academy Nursery/Primary and Montessori School, Benin City, who came first designed a 'Homestead Water Treatment Plant' using sand, gravel, carbon chip and bedrocks, chlorine, among others.
Chiemere Chukwu and Chukwudi Nwafor of Okpoko Community Primary School, Onitsha, Anambra came second with a solar-powered light-generating device.
In the third position were Olamilekan Fadeire and Adeniyi Adesida of Greater Tomorrow Nursery/Primary School, Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State, who made liquid detergent from the ash of cocoa seed chaff.
In the secondary school category, the top three winners all designed water treatment devices in line with the national theme. Aisha Awwal-Bello and Fati Musa Ejiko, students of Mariam Babangida Girls' Science College, Minna, Niger State came first, followed by Victor Adetola and Abioye Oyepeju, students of Nesto College, Oyo, second, while Emmanuel Okung and Joseph Edet Ante from Methodist Boys High School, Oron, Akwa Ibom State, came third.
In both categories, the first place winners got N100, 000 each, while second and third place winners received N50, 000.
The high points of the competition were the oral and written quiz contests, where Ondo State won both the primary and secondary schools categories of the oral quiz competitions. In the finals of the secondary school category, it was a narrow win for the duo of Tosin Amuda, and Kolawole Akinmade, of Greater Tomorrow International College, Arigidi-Akoko and Adeyemi Demonstration Secondary School, Ondo, respectively who scored a total of 107.50 points.
Imo State, represented by Akachi Amaechi of Federal Government Girls' College, Owerri and Chinonso Ndukauba, of Federal Government College, Okigwe came second with 107 points. Federal Capital Territory (FCT), represented by Tochukwu Aka of Gwagwalada School for the Gifted and Nonso Anyigbo of the Loyola Jesuit College came third with 104.75 points.
In the fourth position was Kwara State, represented by the duo of Lauretta Malaka from Chapel Secondary School, Ilorin and Chukwunonso Okongwu from Federal Government College, Ilorin with 94.25 points.
In the primary category, Adetutu Omoogun of SUBEB Model Primary School, Akure and Abdulafeez Mustapha of Greater Tomorrow Nursery/Primary School, Ikare-Akoko came first with 105.5. Edo State came second with 104 points. It was represented by Samuel Erhumiounse Primary Five pupil of Oregbeni Estate School, Benin and Precious Bello of Children's Academy Nursery/Primary and Montessori School, Benin.
Imo State came third with 103. The state was represented by Ezichi Ofornedu , Primary 6, Ray Jacobs Primary School, Mgbidi and Favour Ojiako, Primary 6 of Imo State University Staff School, Owerri. Bauchi came fourth with 99.5 points.
Again, the sum of N100, 000 went to each of the first place winners, while second and third positions attracted N50, 000 each.
In all, a total of 29 states and the FCT participated in the various categories and 43 awards, made up N1, 150, 000 in cash (up from N500,000. two years ago), and lots of trophies were given out. There were prizes for the best in reading quiz, mathematics, primary, physical, life and vocational sciences, to name a few.
It is not possible to list all the award winners here, but a lot can be said for the Greater Tomorrow Nursery/Primary and Secondary Schools, which features in the competition, almost every year and made Ondo State so proud this year. Apart from those listed earlier, another student of the school, Amuda Tosin won the overall best prize in the written quiz, which attracted the sum of N150, 000. The prizes for primary category of this and primary Mathematics were won by Momoh Adaviriku from Bereton Montessori School Port Harcourt.
Chairman of the Quiz Bureau, Prof. Peter Okebukola,thanked Mobil for its continued support for the competition and for expanding the scope of the awards.
Prof. Paul Eniayeju who was STAN president until the end of the competition, when another Dr. Samuel Sambo was appointed, thanked Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) Unlimited for not only sponsoring the competition. The company in the last 11 and seven years has funded the broadcast of the post primary and primary science quiz competitions, respectively on Radio Nigeria, each for 13 weeks every year. In the last five years, Mobil has also funded the transmission of the finals on NTA.
He also acknowledged other STAN supporters, including the World Bank, UNESCO, National Planning Commission (NPC), Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), among others.
After the competitions in Yenagoa, an awards ceremony was held in Abuja for the winners. MPN's Business and Government Relations Manager, Mr. Victor Olaiya said "the NNPC/Mobil joint venture is committed to investing in science education for our youths. This is part of our contribution to preparing them for the future responbility of leading the nation's drive for technological advancements."
He said this year's theme of the STAN annual conference, 'Curriculum Development in Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) Education' "was specially selected to help strengthen the quality of the academic menu being served science students across the country."
The representatives of the World Bank, UNESCO, NPC, Ministry of Education and NERDC all commended STAN for its activities, renewed their commitment to the association and charged it to reach for greater heights by popularizing the sciences.
Mrs. Danjuma, who spoke on behalf of teacher awardees thanked the organisers of the competition and made a case for the reward of the teachers of the student and pupil award winners. She charged her colleagues to strive to be creative and look beyond monetary rewards for their efforts.
Adetutu Omoogun and Tosin Amuda, who spoke on behalf of the pupils and students also thanked the organisers and pledged their commitment to excellence in science.
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