13 September 2008
Abuja — Minister of Education, Dr Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu has attributed the nation's backwardness in science and technology to the failure of past governments to invest in the academia and research activities.
He said this in Gwagwalada, Abuja, at the closing ceremony of 2nd Nigerian Universities Computer Programming Contest, organised by the National Mathematical Centre (NMC).
The minister said as part efforts to tackle the problem, the Federal Government had been collaborating with Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, to organise science and technology summer camps for students.
"We are confident that this would make our students to have access to quality instructors, in a bid to re-orient their perception," he said.
Besides, Nwachukwu said Mathematics was a language of science, adding that it was also very critical to the nation's development.
The minister noted that the contest would motivate the nation's universities to attain international recognition by exposing the students to competitions in computer science locally before going for global competitions.
Earlier, the Director-General of NMC, Prof. Sam Ale, told the minister that 16 public and private universities contested in the competition."The significance of contest is to identify, encourage and reward the university undergraduates who are good in computer science and software development," he said.
University of Ibadan emerged the winner of the competition, followed by Bells University, Badagry, while Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, placed third.
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