Eight high school students have been selected to represent Nigeria, at this year’s First Robotics Competition, scheduled to hold in Singapore, between October 7-10, 2023.

One of the organizers, Joshua Olayinka Ibikunle, who disclosed this to Vanguard, gave the names of the Nigerian team as Osadebanwen John-Nejoh, Adetayo Kalajaiye, Daanish Mehra, Temitope Johnson, Abdulazeez Adekunle, Bashirat Sulaiman, Fiyinfoluwa Oluokun and Adeshina Mojoyinoluwa.

His words: “The students are dedicated and committed to making a difference through their innovative solutions to problems of renewable energy with a focus on hydrogen.

“The students, who are aged between 14 and 18, were selected and coached by Association of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, STEM, Educators in Nigeria, a non-governmental organization, with a mission to grow Stem Education in Nigeria.”

Explaining how the selection was done, Ibikunle said: “They emerged through a very rigorous screening process, aimed at identifying exceptionally gifted candidates that will fly the nation’s flag at the global competition.

“The try-out challenge began with the registration of over 100 students drawn from different secondary schools across Nigeria.

“They were later divided into groups, to assess their knowledge of teamwork, creativity, focus, and problem-solving skills.

“At the end of the challenge, only the best eight were selected to represent Team Nigeria and compete with about 190 nations of the world in Singapore next month.”

While saying that the organizers of the competition, is a not-for-profit charity organization geared towards inspiring leadership and innovation in youths from all nations, Ibikunle also explained that “they achieve this by empowering them through education.

His words: “Since the inception of the competition in 2017, by First Global Challenge, FGC, it has empowered high-school students around the world, to collectively tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.