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FGGC Akwa Ibom team wins FIRST LEGO LEAGUE National Championship 2020

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BY: Sandra Ani

An all-girls team, Metra 101 from FGGC, Ikot Obio Itong, Akwa Ibom State, emerged overall Champions at FIRST LEGO LEAGUE (FLL) National Robotics Championship Competition 2020 as the grand finale held in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja over the weekend.

A section of the students

They scooped the top position by embodying the program’s Core Values of teamwork and mutual respect while achieving excellence and innovation in both robot game and innovative project.

FLL was brought to Nigeria by Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation and supported by SAP.

Other winners at the Championship are as follows:

​1 Robot Design (2nd) Award – Tech Gears X

2 Against All Odds Award – FGGC, Bauchi

3 Mentor/Coach Award – FGGC, Kabba

4 Core Values Award – Airol Unilag

5 Robot Performance Award – Bred Hub

6. Glistobots – Robot Design – Glisten School

7. Robot Performance (2nd) – FSTC Orozo

8. Project Award – Technobots – Vivian Fowler School

To this end, the Federal Ministry of Education, (FMoE), indicated that from next year all the 104 Unity Schools will participate in the FIRST LEGO LEAGUE (FLL) National Robotics Championship Competition.

Students performing a mission

Excited by the ingenuities displayed by participating students, the Minister of State for Education, Honourable Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, speaking through the Permanent Secretary, Arch. Sonny Echono, disclosed that plans are underway for all the Unity Schools’ participation.

The sixth edition under the theme: “City Shaper”, was organised by Coderina in collaboration with the Ministry and the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) with supports from SAP; National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA; Irish Aid and the Baze University in Abuja.

The Minister said that the decision to allow all Unity Schools’ participation is aimed at strengthening critical and computational thinking among students.

Children from 6 to 18 years numbering about 1000 and 50 teachers drawn from 60 schools participated at year’s national championship with FGGC, Ikot Obio Itong, Akwa Ibom State emerged overall champion.

The Minister said, “This marks a significant first step in our work in ensuring the infusion of Coding in our school curricula to strengthen critical and computational thinking as a key skillset that students in Secondary Education must have. This will ensure that we broaden the base by making sure that the opportunities of this preparation are made possible today even though the manifestations of the series of efforts we are making now will come tomorrow.

L-r: Chairman, Board of Trustees, Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, Mr. Femi Niyi; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono; Director of eGovernment Development and Regulation (eGDR), Dr Vincent Olatunji, and IT Manager at SAP, Mr. Olajide Ajayi, at the First Lego league Robotics National Championship 2020 among private and public schools held at Baze University, Abuja on February 21-23, 2020.

“Our efforts are in line with Ministerial Strategic Plans, the SDGs 4; which is provision of quality education for all…The world of today and that of the foreseeable future is one where individuals move between digital domains and offline reality with the use of technology to enable and manage life”, he added.

On his part, the Director General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE, represented by the Director of eGovernment Development and Regulation (eGDR) Dr Vincent Olatunji earlier while delivering the keynote address said that NITDA is saddled with the responsibility of developing and regulating the use of Information Technology in the country, which has contributed immensely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Students demo their robotics mission

He said, “Building creative young minds will bring out the potentials embedded in the teeming youths, making them to have the basic Information Technology foundation at an early stage”.

According to the DG, “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the fundamental pillars and the next oil of the nation that will playing a pivotal role towards the growth of the economy”.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought about the concept of smart things, digital platforms and digital economy, stating that the difference between third and fourth industrial revolutions is the disruptive nature of the emerging technologies,” he added.

Mr. Olajide Ademola Ajayi, an IT Manager representing SAP, said “FIRST is a USA organisation while LEGO is an organization based in Denmark; FLL tournament is to help the young students to become task themselves and perform ‘missions’ during the competition. The fourth industrial revolution is upon us and innovators, thinkers and other with the requisite skills will think outside the box, and be able to find answers to real life issues within their communities.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono (3rd r); Director of eGovernment Development and Regulation (eGDR), Dr Vincent Olatunji (1st r) flanked by other officials representing Coderina and the Ministry, at the First Lego league Robotics National Championship 2020 among private and public schools held at Baze University, Abuja on February 21-23, 2020.

Mr. Ajayi added that FLL tournament basically was to inspire young students to become engineers, technological experts, scientists, great thinkers and help them find solutions to real life issues in their communities.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees of Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, Mr. Femi Mr. Femi Niyi, told journalists that the competition is a culmination of weeks and months of learning activities, researching and discovery in science and technology in a hands- on experiential form, putting theories into practice which has made the participatory students to find an intersection between theory and practice.

According to him, “it is aimed at intensifying the penetration of Information Technology (IT) across the country, prepare youths adequately for the fourth (4th) industrial revolution and explore emerging technologies ranging from Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Coding, Robotic and Bitcoin which is a requisite for the knowledge economy”.

Also speaking, the Director of Partnerships and Engagement at Coderina, Mr. Akinniyi Obaide, said, “We are not competing rather co-competing; a competition in corporation. We are not making the children feel they are jealous, because every presentation is different. There are different robots presented at this tournament; we can’t condemn any of them. It was only when we asked the students to perform tasks that we could pick-up the champions.

“When we are emphasising core-values, we are looking at how are the pupils/students behaving towards each other. What is their reaction towards other teams? Any team that decides to lend their battery to another team gets a mark. We are teaching them to develop team-work mindset; that you can actually rise by lifting others.

The Founder of Women in Technology in Nigeria (WITIN), Mrs Martha Alade, who was also in attendance expressed deep appreciation to Coderina and partners for empowering Nigerian Youths with such highly sought digital skills needed for thrive in the 4IR.

She remarked that at this pace of innovation showcased at the event, Nigeria would move up the global digital competitive index.

[Source]

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Tinubu Grants More Power to Ministers of State on Oversight Funtions

…of Agencies under them

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Minister of State for Defence Dr. Bello Matawalle
President Bola Tinubu and Minister of State for Defence Dr. Bello Matawalle

Tinubu has granted full oversight responsibilities to Ministers of State over agencies under them amongst whom are Minister of State for Defence Dr. Bello Matawalle, Water Resources and Sanitation, Minister of State for Agriculture and others will henceforth enjoy full  oversight responsibilities over such agencies.

President Bola Tinubu at FEC Meeting has approved that ministers of state be given full powers to supervise the agencies under them, the cable reported.

Until now, files pertaining to departments and agencies under their supervision were sent by their permanent secretaries to the senior ministers.

With the new dispensation, ministers of state can now grant all necessary administrative approvals on the governance process of these agencies and departments.

According to a source in the office of the head of service of the federation, “the president was not pleased with the prevailing governing framework in which ministers of states were just ministers in name”.

This, Tinubu reportedly said, led to the “underutilisation of the expertise and capabilities” of most ministers of state.

“The president believes ministers of state should have the right to make decisions and direct action within their areas of responsibility,” the official added.

According to the Cable report, the source said the idea, first mooted by Hadiza Bala Usman, special adviser to the President on policy coordination and head, central delivery coordination unit got an instant buy-in from the President.

With the new directive, the administration hopes “to unleash” the potential of all the ministers, the source added.

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Enugu: Mbah Approves N80,000 Minimum Wage for State, LG Workers and Primary School Teachers

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MBAG, ALGON and Minimum wage
L-R: Secretary, ALGON, Enugu State chapter, Hon. Uche Okolo; Vice Chairman, ALGON, Enugu State, Hon. Ferdinand Ukwueze; Chairman, ALGON, Hon. Okechukwu Edeh; Chairman, TUC, Enugu State, Comrade Ben Adogwa; Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah; Chairman, NLC, Enugu State, Comrade Fabian Nwigbo; Chairman, Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Comrade Ezekiel Omeh; Chairman, NULGE, Enugu State, Comrade Udaya Ani and the Head of Service, Mr. Kenneth Ugwu, during the announcement of N80,000 new state minimum wage at the Government House, Enugu, Thursday.

It’s unprecedented to earn above minimum wage in Enugu- Labour

… We’ll commence implementation immediately- ALGON

Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has approved N80,000 minimum wage for the state’s work force, including local government workers, effective October 2024, noting a direct link between a motivated workforce and his administration’s vision of growing the state’s economy from $4.4bn to $30bn.

The new minimum wage covers all state employees, primary school teachers, and local government workers.

Organised labour has described the wage as unprecedented, as it was the first time that Enugu workers would be earning above the national minimum wage.

Mbah announced the new minimum wage on Thursday after a meeting with the Enugu State Minimum Wage Implementation Committee headed by the Head of Service, Kenneth Ugwu and labour leaders, including the state’s labour leaders.

Mbah said, “Few weeks ago, I inaugurated a committee with the responsibility to oversee the implementation of the New National Minimum Wage in Enugu State. Today, I’m happy to announce a new minimum wage for workers in Enugu State, reflecting our fidelity to their welfare, in regard of which we have been resolutely committed.

“We have approved the sum of N80,000 as the new minimum wage in Enugu State. This underscores our commitment to bequeathing lasting legacies of improved living conditions.

“Our commitment to improved workers’ welfare runs deep, and is rooted in the firm understanding of the inextricable link between an inspired workforce and the audacious economic targets we had set our sights on.

“We clearly understood that reducing poverty to the barest minimum and achieving an unprecedented economic growth target were contingent on the output of the workforce. Therefore, for us, the best way to acknowledge that labour creates wealth is by ensuring that the workforce, which creates the wealth that oils the wheel of government, is sufficiently motivated.

“We have similarly demonstrated our commitment to workers welfare through the consistent payment of the wage awards, a gesture we had pledged to sustain until a new wage structure took effect.”

Speaking, the Chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Fabian Nwigbo, thanked governor Mbah for always prioritising the welfare of workers, describing the new minimum wage as “a great one for Enugu workers.”

 “In the past, when minimum wage is announced, it takes up to one or two years for anything to happen; and when it did, we took anything they gave us as we saw it.  But today, you have even given us something much higher than national minimum wage. 

“But I am not totally surprised because when other governors were paying N12,000 wage award, you were paying us N25,000. When others paid for some months and stopped, you continued paying it until the new minium wage as you promised. So, we have enjoyed wage award for 11 months and today you announced the minimum wage which is the first of its kind since my 32 years in service,” said.

Speaking to Government House correspondents, the Chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, Comrade Ben Asogwa, said, “We are so happy. The governor did not just announce ₦80,000 minium wage, but said that it cascades down to even local government workers. He said that he does not want disparity in salary implementation in Enugu State anymore because we all go to the same market.

“This is the first time in history we are seeing the implementation of minimum wage above the approved amount by the federal government. Actually, when we entered into the negotiation, we were afraid because we know quite well that we are not among the states that share in dividends of oil money. We know quite well that we are at the back when it comes to federal allocation, but His Excellency actually surprised us.

“One thing we have seen is that he understands the impact of motivation on productivity. The governor has set a pace and we know that any other person coming after him will have the challenge to meet up with the target set by His Excellency, Governor Peter Mbah.”

On his part, Chairman of the Association of Local Government Workers, ALGON, Enugu State, Hon. Okechukwu Edeh, pledged the commitment of council chairmen to implementing the new minimum wage.

“When you motivate workers, they become more productive. What I am promising on behalf of the Enugu ALGON family is that we are going to cascade the new minimum wage to the local government level. Implementation begins immediately,” he said.

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Matawalle Brief President Tinubu on Security Situation in North-West

Minister commends Nigerian Military, reports SANDRA ANI

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Matawalle
President Tinubu (right) in a handshake with Minister Matawalle

The Honourable Minister of State for Defence, H.E. Dr. Bello Muhammed Matawalle, MON, briefed President H.E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR on the outcome of his two operational tours to Sokoto State 

Dr. Matawalle highlighted the significant successes recorded by the Nigerian Military in combating insecurity in the region, praising the dedication and professionalism of the Nigerian Military, particularly the Armed forces of Nigerian . “They will continue to play a critical role in safeguarding our nation,” he emphasized.

According to a statement signed by Henshaw Ogubike, director (Information and Public Relations), at the Ministry, the Minister eulogised  President Tinubu for his   Government’s commitment to providing necessary resources to maintain operational efficiency in countering security threats in the North-West. He also reaffirmed the government’s resolve to bolster NAF’s capacity as part of the strategic fight against insecurity in the region.

Dr. Matawalle’s operational visit to Sokoto State aimed to rekindle the people’s faith in the Federal Government’s efforts to restore peace and security in the North-West region. His presence, along with the Chief of Defence Staff and other military chiefs led to the elimination of many bandit leaders amongst whom is Halilu Buzu sububu. This  demonstrates the government’s determination to flush out bandits and terrorists.

The Minister called on residents of Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, and Kebbi states to remain vigilant and cooperate with security forces to ensure the success of ongoing operations.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was very pleased with his briefing and commended the Minister and the troops in their renewed vigour to eradicate insecurity in the North West and the country.

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