Promoting scientific awareness -The NNPC contribution

Education is the foundation on which nations are built. Most importantly, science and technical education remains the cornerstone of industrial growth and advancement especially among the global super powers.

While so much have been said in the past about efforts to make science and technical education the thrust of Nigeria development agenda, it remains to be seen forward looking steps in that direction owing to various challenges the education sector have undergone in the country.

It is therefore in realisation of this fact that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) decided to promote the acquisition of scientific knowledge through the sponsorship of an Annual National Quiz competition.

For starters, the NNPC Annual National Quiz Competition was an off-shoot of an NNPC-sponsored Niger Delta Science Quiz Competition held in 2000. Following its resounding success that year, the NNPC moved a notch higher to sponsor and stage the competition at a national level and ever since, the Corporation has never looked back

Every year, the competition starts from the grassroots level where students of various secondary schools within a state slug it out in core science subjects of English, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. After the state level contests, three winners from the state move to the zonal contest where the various states in the nation’s six geo-political zones compete among themselves. From there on, the best six states will emerge to represent their zones at the Grand Finale which usually takes place at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.

Ever since it commenced in 2001, the competition has been characterised by very keen and healthy contest from the participating states, all borne out of the sincere desire and commitment of the participating students to do well.  It is indeed noteworthy that in such healthy rivalry, the students adequately prepare themselves towards the rigours of their Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) which usually comes up shortly after the quiz competition, as well as the challenges of tertiary education. The state governments and no least the students are very proud to be part of this positive development.

From its inception till date, a close look at the over seventy (70) winners of the NNPC Annual National Quiz Competition revealed that a number of them have proudly become -or are on the verge of becoming – medical doctors, pharmacists, microbiologists, physiotherapists, neuro-surgeons, human anatomists, zoologists, engineers (agricultural, chemical, electrical, mechanical, civil, environmental and even aeronautical engineers), computer analysts/programmers, microbiologists, IT technicians, mathematicians and economists.

KELECHI EWUZIE