F or its efforts in uplifting the standard of education through its Cowbellpedia Mathematics Television Quiz show, Promasidor Nigeria Limited has bagged the ‘Best Company in Education’ award in the 2016 Lagos PR Industry Gala and Awards.
The LaPRIGA award was organised by the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations. Speaking at the event, the Chairman, Lagos NIPR, Mr. Olusegun McMedal, said that the consistency of Promasidor’s Cowbellpedia Mathematics Quiz initiative was commendable.
McMedal added that the quiz show had motivated students to develop interest in the subject, which is a basic requirement in any profession in life. He stressed that Promasidor had performed well in ensuring that students imbibed the culture of having Mathematics as one of their favourite subjects in school. Receiving the award, the Assistant Brand Manager, Promasidor, Miss.
Oluwatooni Odewole, said that the award was deserving as it showed the company’s strong commitment in improving the standard of education and encouraging them to erase the notion that Mathematics was a difficult subject that should be neglected.
“It is part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of the company, which has greatly impacted on students’ perception of the subject,” she stated. Also on the CSR initiative, the Managing Director of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Mr. Olivier Thiry, said a strong foundation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education had become very important at this stage, when Nigeria was determined to broaden its economic base like that of the developed world.
“STEM courses are pivotal to a nation’s technological advancement and Mathematics, which has historically been seen by students as an unattractive subject, is a key component of STEM education,” he said. To encourage students’ interest in the subject, the company significantly increased the prize money for the finals of this year’s competition for both the students and teachers.
This year, the top prize student winner in each category went home with N1million in addition to an all-expenses paid education excursion outside the country. Also, the teachers of the winners in each category got N400,000 each.
All these improvements, according to the company were to underscore its effort to provide a credible platform that would discover, recognise and reward excellence in Mathematics, a critical component of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in Nigeria.
The 2016 edition of the Cowbellpedia Mathematics Television Quiz show ended with Juliet Ekoko and Ayooluwa Oguntade, both of The Ambassadors College, Ota, Ogun State, winning the junior and senior categories, respectively, going home with cash prizes of N1million naira each and an all-expenses paid education excursion outside the country.
