The Federal Ministry of Education (FME) has indicated that from next year all the 104 Unity Schools in Nigeria will participate in the FIRST LEGO LEAGUE (FLL) National Robotics Championship Competition.
FLL was brought to Nigeria by Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation and supported by SAP.
Now in its sixth edition in the country, the competition this year is themed: “City Shaper” and 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.
Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, the minister of State for education, speaking through Sonny Echono, the permanent secretary, said the decision to allow all Unity Schools’ participation is meant to strengthen critical and computational thinking among students.
Children aged 9 to 18 years numbering about 1000 and 50 teachers drawn from 60 schools participated at this year’s national championship where Metra 101 Team, an all-girls team from FGGC, Ikot Obio Itong, Akwa Ibom State, emerged overall champions.
Other winners include: Robot Design (2nd place) Award – Tech Gears X; Against All Odds Award – FGGC, Bauchi; Mentor/Coach Award – FGGC, Kabba; Core Values Award – Airol Unilag; Robot Performance Award – Bred Hub; Glistobots – Robot Design – Glisten School and Robot Performance (2nd) – FSTC Orozo, Project Award – Technobots – Vivian Fowler School.
Metra 101 Team scooped the top position by embodying the programme’s core values of teamwork and mutual respect while achieving excellence and innovation in both robot games and innovative project.
Feeling excited by the students’ performances, the permanent secretary 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.
“Our efforts are in line with Ministerial Strategic Plans, the SDGs 4; which is the 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 said.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE, director-general of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), represented by Vincent Olatunji, the director of eGovernment Development and Regulation (eGDR) 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).
“Building creative young minds will bring out the potentials embedded in the teeming youths, making them have the basic Information Technology foundation at an early stage,” the minister said.
“Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the fundamental pillars and the next oil of the nation that will play a pivotal role in 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.
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.
Ajayi added that the FLL tournament basically was to inspire young students to become engineers, technological experts, scientists, great thinkers and help them find solutions to real-life problems.
Femi Niyi, the Chairman, board of trustees of Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, 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.
