In a bid to get its activities to impact Nigerians more positively in keeping with its payoff line, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has pledged to retool its channels of engagement with communities to help prepare the younger generation for leadership.
Speaking at the grand finale of the 2016 edition of the NNPC Annual National Quiz Competition which held at the NNPC Corporate Headquarters in Abuja, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said he was immensely proud of the National Quiz Competition project as it has lived up to the objective of generating interest in science and technology among Nigerian youth.
The Minister who was represented by the Group Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services, Mr. Isa Inuwa, said the Corporation would continue to support the National Quiz Competition and other community-based efforts aimed at promoting education and youth development.
“We would thus commit ourselves to executing many more strategic community development projects, particularly those that we reckon would rapidly improve the lives of Nigerians”, he said.
In a goodwill message, the Minister of Education, Alhaji Adamu Adamu, who was represented by the Acting Director, Technology and Science Edcation, Mrs Tina Eyanru , commended the management of NNPC for initiating and supporting the science quiz competition for the past 15 years.
He said the poor economic condition in sub-Sahara African countries was a result of poor application of science, adding that there was need to change that trajectory by encouraging the development of the transition from science to technology which is what the Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) Competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education was about.
The grand finale of the NNPC Quiz which had the winners from the zonal level of the contest was won by students from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who clinched the first prize with 135 points.
Other winners are: Akwa Ibom which clinched the second prize with 125 points; Lagos – 110 points; Jigawa – 100 points, Abia – 90 points and Yobe – 70 points.
The contestants who represented the FCT – Master Aniagoh William; Anyacho Sopuruchukwu and Nwokolo David – would enjoy N300,000 bursary throughout their education up to the first degree level.
