C’River University wins NCDMB STIC , gets N10m

…UniJos, FUA Makurdi take second, third positions

Simon Etinum, Yenagoa

Cross River University of Technology (CRUT) has emerged the overall champion of the Nigerian Content Science and Technology Innovation Challenge (STIC), winning the star prize of N10m.

The contest sponsored by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and implemented by Enactus Nigeria Limited, saw the University of Jos clinching second position with a prize of N4m and the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, taking the third position, winning a cash prize of N1.5m.

The CRUT, with team name, DC Solar Element Stove, showcased its manufactured stove that is alternative for renewable, environmentally friendly and cheaper alternative for cooking.

Teams from six universities emerged among the six finalists in the first-ever Nigerian Content STIC. The six winners – two from each region include University of Jos and the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, for the Northern region; the Cross River University of Technology and Federal University of Technology, Owerri for the Eastern/Southern region; and for the Western region, Tai Solarin University of Education and Anchor University, Lagos.

The successful teams emerged from the 15 groups that competed at the regional finals which held at the University of Abuja for the Northern zone, NCDMB Towers, Yenagoa for the Southern/Eastern and Covenant University Ota for the Western regional competitions.

Each of the 15 teams that had earlier emerged as semi-finalists were given a grant of Five Hundred Thousand Naira by the NCDMB, to develop functional prototypes of their ideas. In each of the regions, six astute multidisciplinary professionals from Engineering, business development and strategy served as judges to shortlist the fifteen to six.

At the event that took place yesterday at the Nigerian Content Tower, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, Bayelsa Governor Douye Diri, Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, Country Director, Enactus Nigeria, Michael Ajayi, and many professors and academics were in attendance.

Diri, while commanding the NCDMB and Enactus Nigeria for the initiative, said his administration is focusing on development of skills acquisition through establishment of colleges of science and technical education in every local government area of the state.

He said there was a real need to change the narrative on unemployment in the state in the light of an increasingly digitalised global economy.

He noted that the state government had adopted an educational curriculum that has shifted emphasis from certificate education to science and technology-based skills as no society could develop beyond its level of education.

He called for collaboration with the NCDMB and other stakeholders to ensure that science and technology was given premium in the educational sector.

In his address, the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, said the STIC was one of its various interventions to serve as a catalyst for the industrialisation of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors.

Wabote explained that the STIC in partnership with Enactus Nigeria Limited was at the grand finale stage with over 170 public and private universities in Nigeria participating.

He said the programme was targeted at students of accredited tertiary institutions to apply science, technology, and Innovation to finding homegrown solutions to everyday problems across all sectors of the economy.

The challenge, he also stated, was aimed at engaging, developing, showcasing, supporting, and rewarding deserving students, lecturers and universities that excelled in the challenge.

STIC is an enterprise-development program designed to challenge undergraduates of all accredited Nigerian tertiary institutions to stretch their ingenuity and apply science & technology to create home-grown, innovative, and technologically driven business solutions that address some of the country’s most pressing everyday problems.

It also accelerates reverse-innovation and create wealth, while also providing job opportunities for the growing numbers of the unemployed people in Nigeria.