Osinbajo Hails Nation’s Robotics Team for Impressive Washington DC Show

THISDAYLive

The Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has praised the efforts of Team Nigeria to the FIRST Global Robotic Olympics in Washington DC, US in 2017 for their outstanding performance at the challenge.

He made the commendation while receiving the six-member team, their project director, mentor and sponsors to the July 14 to July 19, 2017 event.

According to Osinbajo, Nigeria has so many young talents, who could do the nation proud in any international competition.

“We very strongly believe that this country has the talent and these young people demonstrated it eloquently. They have the talent and the creativity and all that it takes to make the kind of difference that could be done in technology,’’ Osinbajo said.

He added that he was glad that they youth were working in teams which was the best way to go adding that it was an indication that personalised achievement was no longer viable.

He said having seen a team of dedicated young people the government would have to support and encourage them.

Osinbajo said he looked forward to a better outing of Team Nigeria in the next Olympic challenge taking place in Mexico in August this year, adding that the next challenge will be interesting to the country as it focused on energy impact.

Responding to the Vice President, Managing Director Aramex, Mr. Faisal Jarmakani, and Mr. Omar Jarmakani of Doculand, who sponsored the team Nigeria said their mission was to give the young ones the international exposure in science and technology.

“We are delighted to have given these young Nigerians the chance to participate on a global platform and demonstrate their skills to a global audience. More importantly, we believe that STEM is the way to go for any country that wants to participate actively in world commerce, business and technology. We hope the outcome of this young people will spur the federal government to put in place policy statement to encourage teaching of STEM in our schools.”

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, pledged the support of the ministry as well as that of Science and Technology toward the August Olympiad.

The leader of the delegation, Mrs. Remi Willouby, a retired robotics teacher, said the Team Nigeria came first in one category and second in another out of the 10 categories of awards.

She said out of 163 teams from 157 countries in the competition, the country placed 25th globally and emerged third of the 41 African countries in attendance.

“What is important is that we are building a group of children that can change this country using innovation,’’ she said.

Willouby stressed the need for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education being a critical component in the development of the country.

She called for federal government support in the 2018 challenge.



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