NNPC Boss Awards STEM Scholarships to 21 Pupils
Maikanti Baru
Oluchi Chibuzor
As part of efforts to enhance the participation of the girl-child in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM), the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru has awarded scholarships to 21 pupils in Bauchi State.
The award ceremony, organised by the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), in collaboration with NNPC with the theme ‘Invent it-Built it’, was to encourage recipients to pursue a career in the field of STEM.
Speaking at the programme, Baru said no nation has become powerful and developed without the encouragement of STEM as it gives birth to invention, adding that science is life.
“Science is life, STEM are economic drivers and engineers are problems solvers.”
He noted that 21 beneficiaries were selected out of 100 pupils for scholarship from primary school to university through simple science experiments.
He admonished the winners to maximize the opportunity as it will influence their chances of surviving in the organisation like NNPC, which is competitive and employs thousands of scientists and technologists.
“My dear children, the study of STEM requires you to be diligent and have an eye for details, it requires you to possess the ability to multi-task all of which the female folks are known for, as no nation has become powerful without STEM.
“I am quite pleased because you young girls will have the opportunity to see women who are engineers and know that if they can do it, you can also do it and even better and we are here today to present to the 21 winners their one year tuition.
“You too can work there when you grow older if you take your education seriously from primary to getting engineering degree from the university,” NNPC boss said.
On the partnership with APWEN, he re-instated the resilience of executives who have spearheaded the initiative since inception of the programme in 2018, saying that it was for this reason that “when APWEN informed us that they would be launching this Invent it-Built it, we supported them.”
He urged the school management to maintain the ongoing science laboratory at Sarki Ahmad Primary School, which is 70 per cent completed, for upcoming pupils to use.
