Kaiama Grammar School, FGGC, Imiringi, Clinch Top Prizes at NCDMB Science Quiz Competition

4

The 9th edition of the NCDMB/NTA Science Quiz Competition for Secondary Schools in Bayelsa State came to a close on Wednesday at the Nigerian Content Tower (NCT) Conference Centre, Swali, Yenagoa, with Kaiama Grammar School, Kaiama, in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area, and Federal Government Girls College, Imiringi, Ogbia Local Government Area, clinching the top prizes, while Apex Academy, Yenagoa emerged second runner-up.
Each of the three schools went home with prizes, including a set of top-of-the-range laboratory equipment, anatomical skeleton model, microscopes, an electronic compact scale, and a standard printer, while the six contestants received an HP laptop each for their own private use.

In a welcome address at the event, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, represented by the General Manager, Corporate Communications Division (CCD), Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, described the quiz competition as a major event of the Board, noting that it has demonstrated its commitment to education through the sustenance of the competition for nine consecutive years.

He noted that the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) had started the science quiz for secondary schools several years ago and invited NCDMB into a partnership arrangement that has lasted till date. He said the partnership has endured for so long because the two federal agencies “have a meeting of minds” on matters relating to education and capacity development.

The Executive Secretary explained that the mandate of the NCDMB is to develop indigenous capacity to enhance the participation of Nigerians in the oil and gas industry, and that the Science Quiz Competition would stimulate the interest of students in science and technology, which he described as the bedrock of oil and gas.

According to him, “It is in our interest to develop the young ones who will work in the industry” in the years ahead as the workforce ages. He pointed out that when the industry began in 1957, those who worked at that time had to develop the next generation that had to replace them.