•A Nigerian contestant, Oghenerukevwe Patrick Esemitodje
Nigeria shone like the morning star as two students won medals at the just concluded 2024 Pan African Maths Olympiad (PAMO).
The event, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, saw Oghenerukevwe Patrick Esemitodje, a student of Bright Sun College in Lagos, and Elvis Chiedozie Ekwelem from Rivers State, win a silver medal each for the country in the annual continental mathematics contest.
The Frontier reports that the two young Nigerians beat 19 other countries to make the country proud.
Information available to The Frontier has it that the competition brought together young African students from over 20 countries on the continent.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand, Prof Zeblon Vilakazi, the host, commended Nigerian students for their exceptional intellectual ruggedness, dedication, and talent.
He noted that the competition aimed to promote and encourage academic excellence and research among young African mathematical scholars.
Prof Vilakazi explained that this year’s PAMO had 20 countries in attendance, with eight (8) others participating virtually.
He stressed that the exceptional performance of the Nigerian student contingent shows that they were in-depth in their knowledge of the subject.
He further stated that the students demonstrated the willingness, eagerness, and commitment to excel in the subject at the continental level and are therefore bright candidates for the future development of the subject.
The Frontier reports that one of the two Nigerian students, Oghenerukevwe Patrick Esemitodje, won Gold in Rwanda last year 2023, and won Bronze in Morocco in 2022 in the same competition.
