28th November, 2017
The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) on Monday urged students to participate in inter-school space programmes.
Dr Ayatunji Benjamin, the Chairman, NASRDA Space Ambassador Scheme, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said the agency recently organised inter-state competition for space ambassadorship competition and exhibition for secondary school students “to introduce the young ones to space science and technology early in life.”
Benjamin decried that only few states were represented in the inter-state competition, adding that “the inability of states to present students for the competition
deterred the children from showcasing their talents.
“We encourage state governments to respond to our invitation.
“We have data base of students who participated in the last inter-schools space competition/exhibition and as an agency, we plan to follow them up and encourage their ideas.
“However, we want more states to embrace the idea.
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“The realness of the Nigerian child is better imagined, children came with different challenging projects and judges accessed them.
“The projects were accessed based on different criteria, namely — presentation, the scientific theory behind the project, among others.”
He noted that some of the states that participated in the competition included Kano State, Kaduna, Edo, Oyo, Benue, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory.
He recalled that Johnbosco Science Academy, Benin, Edo State emerged the winner, Government Science Secondary School, Garki came second position, while Wesley College, Oyo state was the third.
The prizes were the sum of N500,000, N300,000 and N200,000 respectively, he added, noting that the agency would follow the young scientists up to encourage them.