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UNILORIN, UNN Wins Big At NCC Essay Competition

By Olawale Odeyemi and Abdulazeez Muh’d Bashir
02 January 2016   |   6:30 am
That the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has remained at the forefront of excellent performance in the comity of institutions of higher learning in Nigeria is no longer news, as its graduate and students have continued to lead excellently by example among their young contemporaries the world over. This was again exemplified by Abdulhakeem Abdullkareem, a…

NCC

That the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has remained at the forefront of excellent performance in the comity of institutions of higher learning in Nigeria is no longer news, as its graduate and students have continued to lead excellently by example among their young contemporaries the world over.

This was again exemplified by Abdulhakeem Abdullkareem, a graduate of the University, who emerged winner of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) nationwide essay contest that held in the federal capital territory, Abuja. By the success of Abdulkareem at the just concluded nationwide essay contest, UNILORIN undoubtedly added another medal to its gallery.

Abdulhakeem, who is currently undergoing the one year mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exercise in the Northern region, clinched the first runner up prize at the keenly contested essay competition.

The winners, Odonoekuma Onyebuchi Ekuma, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Overall winner), Abdulhakeem Abdulkareem Ibrahim, University of Ilorin, Unilorin (first runner-up), and Asogwa Chijioke Peter, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (second runner-up). There was consolation prize of 50,000 naira each given to University of Nigeria (UNN), University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT Minna) and the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

To commemorate the prize giving day which held at the Commission’s Conference Center in Maitama, a summary presentation of the essay was granted to each of the three major prize winners on the topic: Broad Band: A Catalyst For National Development.

In his presentation, Abdulhakeem analyze how broadband services can help improve way of life of developing countries of the world with emphasis on the African continent. Ekuma likened the significant importance of broadband to an effective web of connection between people, information and services, stressing that because broadband networks have the potential to contribute so much to economic development they should be widely available at affordable prices and should be an integral part of national development strategy.

For Chijioke, the chief problem of Nigeria’s economy at the moment is a large-scale unemployment, and broadband has the capacity of solving the problem. “This is because widespread availability of broadband allows more flexible working patterns, opening up new employment opportunities. Those who will benefit most are those who go into entrepreneurship,” he suggested.

Ekuma as overall winner went home with a cash prize of N500,000, a laptop and a printer, and Abdulkareem as first runner-up was rewarded with a cash prize of N300,000, a laptop, while Asogwa got a cash prize of N200,000 and a laptop as second runner-up.

While Ekuma and Asogwa are medical science undergraduates at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Abdulhakeem is a graduate of History and International Studies of University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

NCC director of publicity, Tony Ojobo, while encouraging the winners to share the knowledge garnered from the research of the topic to their fellow students, also advised them to be more diligent in their studies.

In his remark, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC/CEO) of the Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta, disclosed that his vision for the NCC is to ensure the development and hosting of broadband services in major cities and then use the intervention service of the Commission to ensure final deployment to areas that are undeserved.

“The broadband infrastructure is still in its formative stage and non-existence in some places. As a professor who has supervised projects closely related to Quality of Service (QoS), I intend to bring together the experience in ensuring that QoS improves. I can do this in many ways, I can invite those students who conducted research related to QoS to come in and see how we can use their experiences. Let us see whether even in a pilot scheme we can use these research and development from the universities since there is a disconnect; people in a laboratory sit down in obscure places to do research and development. I will serve as a bridge between the industry, the Commission and the universities,” he said

The Vice-Chancellor of UNILORIN, Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali, who was represented by Sub-Dean of the Students Affairs, Dr. A. Yusuf at the ceremony, lauded the NCC for the initiative, saying that bringing broadband services to the grass-root level by a way of creating enabling environment for sound youthful minds to thrive is a good idea. He congratulated the winners for their brilliant performances and also encouraged other Nigerian youth to borrow a leaf from the young achievers.

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