Edo University Commissions First Anatomage Table In Nigeria [2018]

Edo University Iyamho has commissioned the first Anatomage Table by any medical training institution in Nigeria.

The Vice Chancellor of the Edo University Iyamho, Engr. (Professor) Emmanuel Aluyor, made this disclosure on the 23rd of March 2018 during the University’s 2nd Founder’s Day, held at Iyamho in Etsako West local government area of the State.

According to the Engr. Emmanuel Aluyor, an Anatomage Table is the most technologically advanced anatomy visualization system in the world for anatomy education, which has been adopted by many of the world’s leading medical schools.

Engr. Emmanuel Aluyor further disclosed that Edo University is one of the four medical training institutions in Nigeria with power lab system for teaching Physiology and Pharmacology, adding that the clinical skills laboratory when fully operational, will compete with other leading medical schools in the continent.

The University management also recently signed memorandum of understanding for partnership with two foreign universities, namely, Worcester State University, Massachusetts, United States of America, and the University of Sunderland, United Kingdom.

Professor Aluyor said the partnerships would afford some students of the institution the opportunity to spend between one and two years abroad in the students’ exchange programme, to complete their training in approved programmes.

He said that the University has made history within its two years of existence, having just been adjudged the best State-owned University in Nigeria and 3rd out of 160 Universities assessed by the National Universities Commission (NUC), in the Open Educational Resources (OER) ranking recently.

In the words of Professor Aluyor:

“Achieving this feat just within two years of its existence further shows that the vision of the University to become a centre of excellence​ in quality teaching, research, innovations and community development is being vigorously pursued in order to live up to its motto ‘Quality Education for Development’.”

Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteghonor 22.04

Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteghonor with an impressive finish of 22.04 seconds in her 200m race at the Wes Kittley Invitational Track and Field Meet at the Abilene Christian University, has erased the 22-year-old previous African record of 22.07 seconds set by Mary Onyali at a Meet in Switzerland in 1996.

Apart from becoming the new African record in the race which Cierra White followed in second place in 23.26 seconds, while Natasha McDonald settled for third in 24.23 seconds, Okagbare’s winning time also became the new national record in the women’s 200m.

Okagbare’s previous personal best in the event, was 22.23 seconds was set at the 2014 Eugene Diamond League.

Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteghonor now holds the Nigerian women’s records in the 100m (10.79 seconds) and 200m (22.04 seconds).

With this new form, it is going to be difficult for the Delta-born sprinter to avoid defending the double sprint medals she won at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland four years ago.

The Wes Kittley Invitational was Blessing’s first competition of the season with her focus now on the 4x100m relay scheduled to hold in Gold Coast, Australia between April 4 and 15.

The 26-year-old is one of the 37 athletes listed by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria to participate at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, which begins on April 4.

Keystone Bank Wins 2018 Global Impact Leadership Award In Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Category

Keystone Bank Limited at the 2018 Global Impact Leadership Award has been awarded the Best Bank In Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Category held In New York, USA.
The award, the organisers noted is in recognition of Keystone Bank’s leadership role as in expanding access to funds for women entrepreneurs in Nigeria and the rest of Africa where it operates.This feat they further said has brought about unprecedented growth to the business sector and by extension, the nation’s economy and that of Africa.

uTruckit Wins WSA In Smart Settlements & Urbanization Category [2018]

Truckit, an indigenous company that provides a technology platform that facilitates cost effective and secured transportation of goods and cargos with real time monitoring for individuals and companies, has been recognised for its innovative UTruckit application at the World Summit Awards (WSA), which held in Vienna, Austria.

Truckit was awarded in the Smart Settlements & Urbanization category of the World Summit Awards. Truckit launched its UTruckit application in July 2017 and stands out on the strength of its innovation within the digital space.

The World Summit Awards (WSA) was initiated in 2003 in the framework of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (UN WSIS). UTruckit was selected by the WSA Grand Jury as one of the 40 WSA Winners in 2017.

The World Summit Awards is a highly diverse and democratic award system that selects and promotes the world’s best in digital content and innovative applications with impact on the society

According to Mr. Tom Roberts, Nigerian, CEO and founder of Truckit Trucks Solutions Limited:

“We feel very proud of this award as it is a great honor that the international community recognized the exceptional value in the UTruckit APP. Almost 400 submissions from 180 UN member states participated in this year’s WSA contest.

The competition was tough and the selection process was highly competitive and we are so glad we scaled through.”

We are pioneer of the 1st truck booking solution in Nigeria and Africa and we are proud to have achieved this. The innovation is managed by experienced professionals with a track record of delivering logistics solutions. It has been good doing such business in Nigeria.”

Explaining the award initiative, Chairman, Programos Software Group and Founder, Programos Foundation,​ Nigeria’s​ ​coordinating​ ​civil​ ​society​ ​organisation​ ​for​ ​the​ ​United​ ​Nations-based​ ​World​ ​Summit​ ​Awards​, Mr. Amos Emmanuel, noted that 40 winners from 23 countries were selected from over 400 nominations from 180 countries.

He added that the WSA presented a global spectre of change making projects ranging from big data for tourism to organ 3D printing, from a job-platform focusing on female tech talent to empowering smallholder farms.

According to Mr. Amos Emmanuel:

“No matter what the technology is,  it’s​ the​ unique​ content​ that​ makes​ this​ top​ 40​ exceptional.”

Roseben Anyanwu Wins 8th Korea-Nigeria Poetry Feast

Roseben Anyanwu has emerged winner of the 8th Korea-Nigeria Poetry Feast, with a winning cash prize of 100,000.

Roseben Anyanwu’s poem: “Roma” topped the list for the adult category at the event organised by the Korean Cultural Centre in Nigeria to mark the World Poetry Day on March 21, 2018.

Also, Oko Owoicho’s poem “We will sing water” came second with a total prize money of 75,000 while the third (cash) prize of 50,000 went to Rilwan Adelaja for his poem “The Cyclist”.

Seven other poets from the category got the sum of 25,000 each as consolation prizes.

Similarly, from the Junior category including secondary schools, Ameerah Adunola from Government Secondary school, Dutse, emerged overall winner for her poem, “Path Way” and was awarded 50,000.

Praise Acha, from African Child College Abuja emerged first runner up with her poem “The Path” was given 30,000. Gift Ngwuli clinched the second runner up position with her poem “Lyrics of Old” and got 20,000.

Seven other students got 10,000 each as consolation prizes at the 8th Korea-Nigeria Poetry Feast.

Han Sungrae, Director of the KCCN, said for eight years in a row, the centre has offered Nigerians the platform to express themselves and show their talent using poetry.

Sungrae, who was represented by Jee Meeyoun, a Cultural Assistant at the centre, said that the 2018 response to the call for entry into the poetry competition was positive.

In his words:

“This year, we received a record submission in the adult category with 505 poems; from the secondary school category, we got 78 poems from seven schools in the Federal Capital Territory.

The best 10 poems from each category have been carefully selected by independent judges for the awards.

We thank all poets that have sent in entries especially those whose poems were not selected, we implore you not to relent in your quest to excel.”

Alhaji Oladimeji Hassan, Secretary of FCT Social Development Secretariat in his keynote address, said:

“I have no doubt that this poetic exercises is not only intended to be enjoyed but also to spur the creative ingenuity among writers that will produce powerful poets that will build the future of this nation.

I will continue to encourage and support these creative minds in which lies the root of our collective growth and development as a nation.”

CYIAC Wins 2018 UN SDGs Action Award In Innovative Category

The Creative Youth Initiative Against Corruption (CYIAC) has emerged the winner of the Innovative Category of the first United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Awards.

Ms. Foluke Michael, the Project Director of CYIAC in a statement said the Innovative Category top award was presented to the group in Bonn, Germany by Mr. Markus Hipp, the Director, BMW Foundation

She said the campaign that led to the awards demonstrated the extraordinary momentum towards achieving the SDGs in different parts of the world.

At the event, the Global Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, Mitchell Toomey disclosed that the Awards ceremony was held in tandem with the second edition of the Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development in Bonn.

Toomey added that the awards ceremony honored initiatives in the categories of communicator, connector, includer, innovator, mobiliser, storyteller, and visualizer.

In the words of Mitchell Toomey:

“These are ‘Action’ Awards because we need more than words: our winners dared to believe and act for change.

They are perfect examples of the wonderful work that’s happening around the world led by thousands, if not millions, of people.”

The Awards span over private and public sectors, as well as civil society and grassroots movements.

The winning initiatives (CYIAC) included fighting corruption in Nigeria and mobilising Belgians to implement the SDGs in their daily lives. Others were empowering children through photography and digital skills in Bangladesh, promoting human rights education in Sri Lanka and much more.

Over 700 nominations from 125 countries in 7 continents were submitted.

An expert judging panel evaluated the submissions against the degree to which actions were deemed to be transformative, inclusive and impactful.

In addition, an open vote was held on the website of the UN SDG Action Campaign, where visitors could rate their favourite among the 38 finalists to win the People’s Choice Award.

Mitchell Toomey noted that:

“Great solutions for the world’s challenges can come from anywhere.

We hope everyone is inspired by these stories and consider submitting their nominations for future Awards.

These are the first winners of a community that will continue to grow”.

Footwear Academy Wins Proudly Made in Aba Hackathon Challenge [2018]

Footwear Academy, a footwear training firm has won the maiden edition of the Proudly Made in Aba Hackathon Challenge, designed to proffer solutions to challenges currently faced by Aba entrepreneurs, especially in the finished leather, garment and steel fabricating clusters.

Using modern equipment and technology, Footwear Academy won the challenge by providing a solution to upgrading the skills of Aba shoemakers, to enable them to improve the quality of their products.

The Co-founder, Footwear Academy, Bentley Chukwuemeka, stated that their plan was to introduce Aba shoemakers to modern technology, to enable them to speed up production.

Bentley Chukwuemeka said Footwear Academy also intended to reduce its period of apprenticeship from five years to six months.

The hackathon challenge had the Footwear Academy coming first position with $50,000; Clintonel Technology, which came second, received a cash prize of $30,000; and Ogwugo Technologies, coming third, got $20,000.

Clintonel Technology introduced a solution to digitalise and automate the metal fabrication process in Aba, through Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing, while Ogwugo technologies introduced an online marketing platform, designed to handle trade activities between buyers and sellers in broad categories.

The technology, according to the Co-Founder, Clintonel Technology, Tochukwu Chukwueke, will help shoe manufacturers and metal fabricators in Aba reduce production cost, increase production speed, multiply production volume, improve finishing and generate more revenue.

The Co-founder, Ogwogo.com, Chima Abafor, explained that the firm was offering a dynamic platform built from scratch to adapt to modern e-commerce technology, as well as e-commerce problems.

According to the Programme Manager, West African Office, Ford Foundation, Professor Paul Nwulu, the Proudly Made in Aba Hackathon Challenge was organised to find ways of using technology and innovative ideas to help influence the lives of shoemakers, fabricators and garment makers in Aba.

Professor Nwulu explained that they received 400 entries, out of which 10 best ideas were selected for the final, and from which the judges further picked the best three as winners.