FG Celebrates Nigerian Technovation Heroes, Pledges Support for Technology
Support continues to troop in for Nigeria’s Technovation heroes as Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has said that the Federal Government will support the Nigerian team “Save-a-Soul” who won the Technovation challenge. The girls won the challenge for developing the “FD-Detector” mobile application that helps fight fake drugs by scanning the barcode on drugs.
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Yesterday, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo received ‘Team Save-A-Soul’, a group of Nigerian girls who won the world's largest tech competition in the United States of America, at the State House, Abuja.
— Taye Paul Olubayo (@UNILAG_EFIWE) September 7, 2018
Related Post: A Team of Five Nigerian Girls Win $10,000 App Award at the Technovation World Challenge in California
This was made known yesterday when Osinbajo met with the 5 students of Regina Pacis Model Secondary School Onitsha, Anambra–Promise Nnalue, Nwabuaku Ossai, Adaeze Onuigbo, Vivian Okoye, Jessica Osita, and Miracle Igboke at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday.
The girls who were accompanied by the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Nkem Okeke, were applauded by the Vice President, who said the Federal Government would liaise with the government of Anambra to provide the needed support for the project as well as collaborate with the Edufun Technik Stem Centre where the girls were tutored.
Osinbajo also promised that technology and coding would be infused into the curriculum of both pre-schoolers and primary levels. He said, “In our new curriculum, what we are looking at is a variant of STEM. So we are looking at Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths, STEAM”.
Related Post: Three Nigerian Students Win Gold at 2018 World Adolescent Robotics Competition in China
…in San Francisco.
They were accompanied by Anambra State Deputy Governor Nkem Okeke
— Taye Paul Olubayo (@UNILAG_EFIWE) September 7, 2018
The Vice President also added that “We have already drawn up an indicative curriculum and of course the focus is technology because technology is the leveler and it will bridge not a few divides, not just the gender gap, but practically everything, including the knowledge gap between developing countries and developed countries.”
“From pre-primary school young people can begin to learn the system of code writing. They can also begin to learn the development of applications. For us, this is existential. We have no choice but to ensure that young people, especially from pre-primary to primary school, are able to use technology in innovative and creative ways. The world has changed. The entire system of education has a challenge because certainly, we cannot prepare not just for the 21st Century but even the next five years without serious investment in technology.” Osibanjo said.
Also speaking during the reception, the Deputy Governor of Anambra State said the State government has and will continue to invest in education in view of its critical importance to development.
Related Post: The 5 Golden Girls From Anambra Get Cash, Scholarship from State Government
The girls from Regina Pacis Model Secondary School, Onitsha, comprising of Promise Nnalue, Jessica Osita, Nwabuaku Ossai, Adaeze Onuigbo and Vivian Okoye, defeated teams from USA, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and China to win the 2018 Technovation world pitch junior division
— Taye Paul Olubayo (@UNILAG_EFIWE) September 7, 2018
In August, the five girls from Anambra state clinched the number one spot, defeating other countries such as USA, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and China at the World Technovation Challenge in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, US, for their work on the app, FD-Detector. An app said to help fight fake drugs. By scanning the barcode on drugs, FD-Detector can determine if a drug is fake, expired or counterfeit.
The “FD-Detector,” mobile application developed by the team also teaches about the six categories of drugs, their examples, the bad ones, and the side effects,” one of the girls said.
