Kicks off 5th edition
Emmanuel Ukudolo l Wednesday, May 10, 2023
VICTORIA ISLAND, Lagos – Four years down since its introduction, winners of the InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition have remained shinning stars academically in universities across the globe and in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, organisers have said at a press conference in Lagos.
Group Managing Director, Just Media, Mr. Oladapo Ojo, who conceptualized the competition, anchored on Science Technology Engineering and Math, STEM said six students out of top 10 in UTME examination are products of InterswitchSPAK due to the way students are groomed to match intelligence with speed and accuracy.
During the last season, Ojo said 320 students from various schools took part in the competition and that 95 percent are currently pursuing STEM education in various universities.
Till date, 62,000 students sponsored by 9, 555 schools have participated in the competition. He said the competition has gone this far with support from National Examination Council, NECO and Interswitch.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Cherry Eromosele said the journey started in 2018 when Interswitch selected STEM education as a key pillar of its CSR efforts.
“We are excited to kick off this edition of InterswitchSPAK particularly because it’s been five years of visible impact. This highlights our focus on inspiring and empowering innovative young minds to drive progress in STEM and shape the future of Africa and the world at large.”
Also speaking, Group Head, Brands and Communications, Interswitch, Tomijogun Ogunlesi said the company understood STEM education as a driver for the economic performance of a nation and will be crucial in helping Africa’s growing and emerging economies take their place on the world stage.
Armed with this knowledge, the company set to work with its technical partner at Just Media, and thus the InterswitchSPAK National Science competition was thereafter launched as an annual competition for SS2 (Year 11) students between the ages of 14-17 years in both government owned and private schools in Nigeria.
“The objectives of InterswitchSPAK are – to focus critical attention on the need to prioritize STEM education in the education of the younger generation; encourage interest in STEM education, and to promote and reward excellence in this field of study.
“Following the success of the first edition in Nigeria in 2018, we launched the initiative in Kenya the following year. Since then, each year, we have been inspired by the talent and sheer brilliance displayed by participants in the competition.
“Beyond brilliance, though, we have seen tenacity, determination, and hard work on display. These are traits that have become synonymous with the keenly contested competition over the past 4 editions”, Ogunlesi said.
He explained that in each edition of InterswitchSPAK Nigeria , Interswitch had awarded N12.5m worth of university scholarships in addition to brand new laptops and other prizes.
“We are immensely proud of our SPAKsters and how far they have travelled, spurred on by Interswitch’s belief in them, and our support for their dreams through the scholarships.
“Anumudu Akachukwu, who emerged 1st in Interswitch SPAK 1.0 competition is currently studying Electrical Electronics Engineering at the University of Lagos; the first prize winner in the Interswitch SPAK 2.0 competition, Oyindamola Aje is also studying Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, and the second prize winner, Henry Umunna is currently studying Mechanical Engineering at Howard University”, he said.
He noted that the 4th edition was significant in the sense that for the first time since the competition began, a girl emerged as the first prize winner – Orevaoghene Whiskey from Top Faith International School in Akwa Ibom who beat almost 13,000 other contestants from across Nigeria to go home with N7.5m in scholarships and bragging rights as ‘Nigeria’s Best STEM student’.
“The second and third prize winners also went home with N4m and N1m worth of scholarships each”, he said.
However, as the 5th edition of the InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition, kicks off, Interswitch has reaffirmed its commitment to encouraging STEM education beyond just Nigeria and Kenya but across Africa, in line with its purpose which is to inspire Africa to greatness through innovation, excellence, and value-creation
