Oyindamola Aje, a 16-year-old student of Jesuit Memorial College, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has emerged winner of the second edition of the Interswitch SPAK National Science Competition held in Lagos.
He defeated eight other finalists in an intense quiz session to win the grand prize of N7.5 million worth of tertiary education scholarship. This scholarship will spread over five years. He also went away with a laptop and a monthly stipend for the duration of the scholarship fund.
The first runner-up,15-year-old Oluwatobi Ojo of Apt Scholars Universal College, Ogun State, won N4 million worth of scholarship spread over three years; while the second runner-up, 15-year-old Onyekachi Madumere from Scholars Universal Secondary School, Ogun State, received N1 million worth of scholarship for one year.
Oyindamola came tops after going through various levels of the competition. In his comments after the announcement, Oyindamola said he wasn’t looking forward to the competition as he did not know what to expect, knowing he was competing against brilliant minds. He said: “I am very happy that I won the Interswitch SPAK 2.0 first prize. It has been a very long and exciting journey for me and I am grateful to God that I am the overall winner. I did not see this coming at all but I’m very excited.”
Expressing his gratitude, Oyindamola said: “I feel very proud to be part of a project that is giving students in Nigeria opportunities to utilise their talents and skills to impact the nation positively. I would like to use this opportunity to thank Interswitch for creating the Interswitch SPAK project and giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. I also want to thank my parents, teachers, friends and the other participants in the Interswitch SPAK competition. My success today is as a result of their support, encouragement and challenge. I thank them all.”
Another highlight of the day was the presentation of the Founder’s Award to Team Earth – winners of the Innovation Challenge. The team, made up of nine SS2 students, collaborated to identify a problem in the agricultural value chain in Nigeria and proffered a solution, leveraging technology.
Each student alongside their mentors were presented with a medal and a laptop. The nine students will also get a chance to partake in a two-week internship programme at Interswitch Group head office in Lagos.