Winners have emerged in the 2020 R-Bridge Microbiology Essay Competition geared towards promoting microbiology as a profession in Nigeria thereby stimulating public interest in the field.
A managing partner of R-Bridge, Dr Yinka Somorin, in a statement says the competition essay titled “How can Microbiology improve lives and livelihood in Nigeria?” was an opportunity for Microbiology students to share their ideas on practical ways microbiology can contribute to improving health and income-generating opportunities for Nigerians.
Somorin, a microbiology researcher and society champion of the Microbiology Society (UK), led Richard Omole, a microbiology researcher at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and Dr Tosin Somorin, a lecturer at the University Strathclyde, UK to organize the event.
He explained that the essay submissions for the competition were received between July 1 and August 11, 2020, with 217 eligible entries from 64 universities across the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
He added that a panel of 25 academics, researchers and science communicators drawn from Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada and Australia assessed entries based on originality, clarity, relevance and practicability of proposed ideas within the Nigerian context.
Somorin stated that some of the solutions proffered in the winning essays included the starter culture and standardization of traditional fermented food production; development of green technologies for the management of pests and weeds to increase crop yield; management of waste and other environmental pollutants that could be converted to useful products, especially for the production of energy, which is a major burden in Nigeria.
The winners who were announced on August 28, 2020 are Isaac Ajayi, a 400 Level Microbiology student of Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, won the first prize, Favour Olaiya, a 400 Level student of Microbiology at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, came second and the third prize went to Rahama Muhammad, a 300-level student at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin for the undergraduate category.
While the post graduate category has Victory Nnaemeka, an MSc student of microbiology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka,. Lotachukwu Enukora, an MSc student of biotechnology at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, and while Oluwatosin Orababa, an MSc student of microbiology of the University of Lagos, came first second and third place respectively.
The prizes include a certificate, tablet, one-year subscription to Microbiology Society UK, career mentorship by microbiologists in the diaspora among others.
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