It was celebration of academic excellence and a further propagation of the belief that the future belongs to science and technology when the STEM Africa and Just Media Limited presented cash prizes to winners of the maiden edition of the University Duels and SMART Challenge 2025 competition organised by Just Media Limited.
The nation has often been criticised for not rewarding academic excellence enough whereas billions are sunk into promotion of entertainment and sports. The University Duel and SMART Challenge 2025 contest, which was more or less a direct response to this challenge, was geared towards promotion of healthy academic competition in universities.
Coming first is the Covenant University which won a cash prize of N4.5million while the Bells University of Technology came second and won a cash prize of N2million.
Giving a background into how the competition came into being, Oladapo Ojo, one of the nation’s best audio-visual content generators and founder of theSTEM Africa and Chief Executive Officer of Just Media Limited, said the idea came about three years ago.
“Three years ago, we felt that it’s time to do something different in Africa. Prior to that, we’ve done over ten years of similar competitions in high schools. We strongly felt that in Africa, there are other competitions for dancing, music and all kinds. Therefore, we felt that it’s time we take STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) competition to universities for two reasons: One, to encourage young people to take STEM very seriously and two, to also encourage those who are in STEM to see that there’s potential in it.” Ojo also made it known that STEM is what Nigerians need in their daily lives.
“We are out to make the students know the meaning and usefulness of STEM and to also show how they utilise stem in a meaningful way. I’m happy that students were able to network and relate together during the exercise.”
It was never going to be a smooth sail though. Ojo said his organisation approached the National Universities Commission, NUC, for assistance in getting universities to key into the project. But they met a semblance of a brick wall. The NUC told Ojo that while they liked the idea, the Commission did not have the powers to compel universities to be involved in such competition. He was advised to approach individual universities. Then began the cumbersome step of approaching individual universities to be part of the contest.
“We went to over 60 universities. And I can tell you it was not easy. There were some universities just trying to break the ice was not easy as they were understandably lukewarm towards the idea. Anotherchallenge we had was of how to pick the students because you have brilliant students across different departments so how to pick the best became a problem,” Ojo explained.
Since the context was for the promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, the focus was therefore on these core areas.Providing insight into how students who were to participate in the competition were chosen, the Director of Covenant University’s Centre for Open and Distance e-Learning, Dr. Mayowa Agboola, said it was a great privilege that the university took part in the competition. Throwing light on the process, he said the organisers did a CBT test for their students and over 100 of them partook and the top three of those students were picked by the organisers based on their scores.
One of the students that participated in the competition from Bells University, Kafayat Lawal, who is also a 400 level student of computer science in the university, expressed her joy for being among the winning team that brought glory into their school. She thanked the organisers for the initiative. Another representative of the University who is studying Mechatronics, David Itua, said he didn’t know that they would be among the winners because the competition was keen with many other sound and intelligent participants. He commended the organsers and affirmed that they were given conducive environment to compete with good hospitality.
Expressing his delight at the initiative, the Vice-Chancellor of the Covenant University, Professor Timothy Anake, explained that he saw the competition as something that should be encouraged and hoped that the organisers would get sponsors.
“It touched my heart when you said you spent all the money from your pocket. I want to believe that in your next outing, a lot of companies will see opportunities in what you are doing and you’ll get serious partnership. I must commend you for bringing out that amount of money as the winning prize for the competition and, of course, the certificates.”
JustMedia Limited did not just foot the bill of organising such a competition alone, it also provided the logistics towards ensuring that everything went smoothly from the preliminary stage to the grand finale which culminated in prize presentation to the two universities that came first and second.
“We did not collect a dime from any of the universities. All what we presented we bought them 100% because we believe in Africa. We believe in Nigeria and we will continue on this path. I want to say thank you to the Vice-Chancellor and everybody for this opportunity. I hope that your students will also be among winners this next season that we’ve just started,” Ojo said.
For Covenant University, it was another feather to its adorning laurel. This was confirmed by the Registrar of the University, Mr. Emmanuel Igbam, who stated that the university was voted the best in sub-sahara African and number three in the whole of Africa by the Interdisciplinary Science and Research Institute.
“Just recently, the Interdisciplinary Science and Research Institute ranked Covenant University as number one in Nigeria, number one in West Africa, Sub Saharan Africa and number three in the whole of Africa. We thank God for what He is doing in our institution and we believe that very soon, Covenant University will be ranked number one globally,” Igbam said amid elation.
For Bells University of Technology which came second and pocketed a prize money of N2million, it was a day of joy and accolades for the students, staffs and management of the university.
Welcoming the JustMedia team to the University for the Official Prize Presentation, the Director, Research and Development of the university, Dr. Johnson Adeyiga, expressed his gratitude to the organisers of the competition. He congratulated the organisers for the successful completion of the competition just as he showered praises of the students that represented the school for their outstanding performances especially in SMART Challenge.
“The competition has given the students opportunities to showcase the importance of education. The professionalism, expertise offered throughout the process of the competition is highly commendable.” Adeyiga said.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Jeremiah Ojediran, thanked the management of JustMedia for putting together such laudable initiative. He lamented that most competitions have always focused on the entertainment sector which always makes him question if Nigerians value education.
“It’s time we began to value education in Nigeria. Most of the competitions always come from entertainment sector and I always asked ‘where is education’? That’s the reason I commend the students that represented us in the competition. We are happy to celebrate excellence. Thank you, my students, for putting in your best to become first in the SMART Challenge in the competition.”
He also thanked his staff for their roles in supervising and guiding the participating students.
Perhaps, if the nation and its leaders really value education, especially science and technology, then an initiative like the University Duel and SMART Challenge 2025 is what corporate organisations and government and different levels should key into. That should be no brainer.
A corporate communications expert, Akinlade Olugbenga, told THE GUARDIAN that the initiative by OladapoOjo and Just Media should be commended. He added that it provides a massive marketing and promotional opportunities for brands and corporate organisations who want to reach young Nigerians to identify with the initiative.
“I am a corporate affairs manager of any organisation, I will not hesitate to recommend the University Duel challenge to my management and board to key in and take over the sponsorship of the programme. The opportunities are just too massive to ignore,” Akinlade stated.
Perhaps, by the time the 2026 edition goes underway, the burden would not be on Ojo and his organisation alone. It is an initiative worthy of commendation and recommendation.
