Academy awards maths competition winners with cash prizes, laptops

The Special Maths Academy (SMA) has awarded finalists of its 3rd maths contests with cash prizes and laptops.

The event, which was held on Monday in Abuja, honoured the brightest young mathematical talents in secondary schools across Nigeria and recognized their exceptional achievements.

Winners of the first place, second place and third place worldwide got $200, $150 and $100 respectively.

For Nigerians, N150,000 was given to the overall first place, including a laptop; N100,000 to the overall second place, including a laptop; while N75,000 was given to the overall third place with a laptop.

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There were three overall third places in Nigeria and each of them got a laptop and N75,000.

The overall best Nigerian female received N75,000 and will be representing Nigeria at European Girls Mathematical Olympiad in France come 2026.

N50,000 was also given to each of the teachers of the students that won in the competition.

Good, silver and bronze medals were given as well.

Speaking during the price given and award ceremony, Animoku Abdulwahab, Founder of SMA, said the academy had been organizing the competition for the past three years.

He said the completion aims to harness the outstanding minds of young mathematicians by sharpening their rough edges and grooming them to become strong and proficient in science.

“The finalists should keep winning, because the founders of the academy are all winners themselves. They have represented Nigeria at the highest level, and that is what we want… to transfer those transformations that we’ve received to them.

“We are calling on other organizations that would like to sponsor to reach out to us because we already have different plans in place,” Abdulwahab said.

Adamu Mele, a special guest, while commending the organisers, described mathematics as the foundation of all learning.

“I have a very deep love for maths, because it is the foundation of all learning. Therefore what Abdulwahab and his team are doing for the SMA contest in Nigeria is commendable as it will impact a lot on youths in terms of developing them in special skills in maths which will shape their career in future,” Mele said.

Oghnerukevwe Esemitodje, the overall best male in Nigeria, thanked the SMA for the opportunity to showcase his talent through “a very well organized competition”.

Oyerinde Damaris, the overall best female student in Nigeria, encouraged other girls to try harder in order to come out top in mathematics.