From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the nomination of three scholars who distinguished themselves in the field of sciences for 2020/2021 Nigerian National Order of Merit Award (NNOM).
Chairman, Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) Governing Board, Professor Shekarau Yakubu Aku, who disclosed this at a press briefing, listed the recipents as Dr Oluyinka Olutoye in medicine (2020), Professors Charles Ejike Chidume (2020) in science and Godwin Samuel Ekhaguere (2021) in science.
According to Yakubu Aku, while Olutoye and Ekhaguere will receive their awards alive, Chidume died before receiving his own award.
“Chidume was a professor of mathematics at African University of Science and Technology, Abuja. His works encompass several fields, including Nonlinear Functional of Fixed Point Analysis; Nonlinear Operator Theory and Differential Equations Nonlinear Optimisation in particular. His research focused on the area of Fixed Point. Furthermore, he introduced a new and powerful iterative algorithm, which is the only one in the literature that does not involve the resolvent, for approximating a zero of maximal monotone map” he said.
Ekhaguere was rewarded for his outstanding discipline that involves innovatively creating new directions in mathematics and deploying the outcomes to solve outstanding problems in branch of mathematical physics called Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory.
“Ekhaguere is a mathematician with research interest and activities, principally in mathematical physics” the chairman explained.
But for Olutoye, his renowned surgical performance took medical sciences by storm.
“Professor Olutoye is an outstanding world- surgeon and scientist who is widely celebrated for having performed in-uterus surgery on fetuses with large tumors while still in their mothers’ womb. His recognition as the first African and indeed, the first Nigerian to perform this feat has reverberated all over the world and brought immense prominence to Nigeria” the NNMA board, noted.
Meanwhile, the investiture of the awardees will be statutorily performed by President Muhammadu Buhari on a date to be announced by the presidency.
In addition to the recognition, the awardees would be given N10 million and an 18-karat gold medal.
The award which is a yearly event did not hold in 2020 because of the effects of coronavirus. But last year, the NNMA was able to hold the assessment of 2020 and 2021 concurrently and it was approved by the president.
