NCDMB Announces Engineering Olympiad for Youth STEM

According to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), an engineering olympiad would be held to encourage young people to pursue STEM fields.

This was stated on Monday in Abuja by Mr. Esueme Kikile, its General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination.

According to Kikile, young people are drawn to various entertainment and social programs, but there aren’t many that support STEM.

“As part of the process of encouraging STEM education in Nigeria, NCDMB is proposing to work with the oil and gas industry and other partners to host an Engineering Olympiad in this country.

“It will be a competition among Nigerian universities, different groups, and student groups that will come together to propose ideas that can then be selected to feature in the Engineering Olympiad.

“It is strictly a programme that is restricted to Nigerian university students to be able to sell their ideas,’’ he said.

Kikile said the ideas would be moved to become productive ventures, solutions that would help the country.

“We are still in the idea stage, we are still working with our partners and we expect that by the time the announcement is made, it will encourage all universities in Nigeria to participate,’’ Kikile said.

Kikile stated that research and development (R&D) was given top priority in their ten-year Strategic Roadmap, 2017–2027, which is housed under a $50 million research fund with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to him, the nations with the largest economy in the world were those who invested heavily in research, which is why there is a link between innovation and economic growth.

Through their subsidiary, the Nigerian Content Research and Development Council, which solicits research papers from individuals, institutions, and organisations, researchers can access the research budget, according to Kikile.

“There is an evaluation committee from the council that goes through all the submissions, screens the selected papers and then moves them into the NCDMB Technology Incubation and Innovation Centre.

“At the end, whatever papers scale the processes, the NCDMB provides a seed fund that helps in transforming that idea into a solution that solves problems for our country.

“To be able to benefit, one of the easiest ways is to go to the NCDMB website, and you will be able to see the processes and procedures required for accessing the fund,” he said.

According to Kikile, the fund would promote development, increase economic growth, and strengthen creative ideas.

NAN