Ondo pupil, Tolani, is best in Maths
From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja
THAT mathematics is a puzzle, which perpetually defies the best of mental abilities, is a belief most pupils have come to accept. But not Miss Oladiran Tolani.
Indeed, a stroke of her mathematical genius brought her onto national focus yesterday, when she emerged the overall winner of a mathematics competition organised by the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja.
Tolani, 15, a Senior Secondary School Class One (SSSI) pupil of Hallmark Secondary School, Ondo town, Ondo State came tops in both the written and quiz competitions, earning a N100,000 cash prize and two sets of computers with printers for her school.
In the written test, Miss Temitope Oyewoye of Kwara State came second, picking up a N30,000 cash prize while Nnakwe Franklin of Edo came third with a cash prize of N20,000.
In the quiz contest, Franklin came second and bagged the N30,000 price, while Miss Amarachi Agu from Imo came third to pick a N20,000 cash prize.
At the grand finale of the competition yesterday, the Minister of Education, Prof. Fabian Osuji, his Science and Technology counterpart, Prof. Turner Isoun and the Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters, Dr. Edmond Daukoru, were unanimous on the prime place of mathematics in development.
Daukoru, who oversees the Petroleum Technology Development Agency (PTDA), sponsors of the event, was full of praises for the successes recorded, noting that it was the beginning of the discovery of talents.
He directed the Chief Executive of the PTDA, Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar, to ensure that the agency not only sponsored a similar competition next year, but also that oil companies were involved in the sponsorship.
According to him, oil companies are among the greatest employers of people with technical skills and the industry has become technological and capital intensive.
Daukoru stated that there was no way the nation could fill its positions in the oil industry unless the youths performed well in the sciences.
He regretted that the country had not been able to fill its international quota in the oil industry due to its inability to meet recruitment criteria.
"We want all that to change. The industry is expanding, after a period of maturity, there is now expansion and it is virtually the only factor that is representing the ideal growth of the economy," he stated.
According to the adviser, "the employment prospects in the oil industry are very high and they keep growing, so we must make sure that our people are able to compete at the international level so that we don't have to make special pleadings on the ground of nationality because it all starts with mathematics, sciences and technology."
Similarly, Osuji, who was represented by the Director of Technology and Science Education in the Ministry of Education, Alhaji Ibrahim Auta, commended the organisers for their excellent performance.
He described the NMC-PTDF partnership as a worthy one to be emulated by other companies in the quest for the development of the country's manpower.
Isoun, who was represented by Dr. M.A.N Ejiofor, the Director of Technology in the Ministry of Science, spoke in the same vein.
