INTER-SWITCH SPAK: I6-Year-old best science Student wins N7.5m scholarship

A student of Jesuit Memorial College in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Oyindamola Aje, has emerged the winner of the second edition of the Interswitch- SPAK National Science Competition held in Lagos.

16-year-old boy defeated eight other finalists in an intense quiz session, after going through various levels of the competition, to win the grand prize of N7.5 million worth of tertiary education scholarship, which will spread over five years. Master Aje 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, also in Ogun State, received N1 million worth of scholarship for one year.
Expressing his gratitude after the announcement, Aje said he wasn’t looking forward to the top prize 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 InterswitchSPAK 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. “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 InterswitchSPAK project and giving me this opportunity of a lifetime.

“I also want to thank my parents, teachers, friends and the other participants in the competition. My success today is as a result of their support, encouragement and challenge. I thank them all”, he said.
Highlights of the day included 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, proffered a solution while leveraging on technology. The students and their mentors were presented with medals and laptops.
The nine students will also get a chance to partake in a two week internship programme at Interswitch Group head office in Lagos during the long school holidays.

The founder and Managing Director of Inter-switch Group, Mitchell Elegbe, in his opening remarks, stressed the importance of science and technology to the Nigeria economy. He said: “Consistently as a nation and even a continent, we will keep having challenges, I am therefore challenging all of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset to face these challenges and overcome them.”
Elegbe further urged the students to broaden and challenge their perspectives to think about the impact they can make in Nigeria using science and technology while advising young graduates to develop and explore skills that can help them become entrepreneurs rather than job seekers.

“These are interesting times to be young. Indeed these are great times to be an entrepreneur. With the huge advantage the internet portends, the increasing consciousness for mentorship and the plethora of success stories at your disposal, the Nigerian and African youth cannot but rise up to the occasion. As a matter of fact, I believe you all can do it, at least the Inters-witch SPAK has proven that twice”, he added.