The Sultan Muhammad Maccido Institute for Qur’an and General Studies has emerged winner of the 2020 Chemistry competition organized by the Sokoto State University (SSU), International Students Chapter of Chemistry for the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Nana Asmau Islamic Girls Secondary School came second, while Government Girls College, Sokoto, came third at the grand finale held at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the competition was part of activities of the 2020 ACS Festival and efforts by the SSU’s Department of Chemistry to promote interest in the subject, as well as other chemistry-related courses, amongst secondary school students across the state.
The 2020 ACS festival, with the theme: ” Harnessing the Green Chemistry Culture for a Sustainable Post-Covid-19 World ”, was held from Dec. 7 to Dec. 11, 2020.
It featured a quiz competition for secondary schools, hands-on experiments, green chemistry and COVID-19 talk, as well as outreach visits to secondary schools, to promote chemistry. The outreach visits were to: Sokoto Science Teachers College; Federal Government College, Sokoto, and Government Technical College, Farfaru.
In his address, the Head, Department of Chemistry at the SSU, Dr. Muhammad Sirajo, described the knowledge of chemistry as important and a prelude to any sustainable development, because it was a field whose application is manifestly seen in everyday life, either by individuals, group, or industries.
Faculty Advisor to ACS-SSU Chapter, Dr. Thompson Izuagie, called on professionals to embrace and support the activities of the ACS and its vision of improving people’s lives, through the transformation of the power of chemistry.
Izuagie enjoined all the participants and other stakeholders to harness green culture to ensure a sustainable future, thereby achieving environmental sustainability, as presently advocated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sani Dangoggo, who spoke through his Deputy in charge of Academic Affairs, Prof. Zaiyan Umar, urged other departments in the University to emulate the laudable effort of the Department of Chemistry, through the ACS initiated activities.
Dangoggo noted that the exercise was designed to catch potential researchers and scholars young, while commending organizers of the event for the effort, which has the potential of reducing students’ phobia of the subject.
Earlier, Sokoto State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Bashir Garba, expressed the readiness of his ministry to support all programmes and activities of the ACS towards achieving their desired objectives.
The commissioner, who was represented by the Director Planning, Research and Statistics in the ministry, Mal. Abubakar Mainiyo, called on the ACS to come forth with programmes that could assist in curbing some of the medical and environmental challenges ravaging the world. (NAN)
