Igbobi College Wins Sahara Foundation STEAMers Competition

Nosa Alekuogie

Students from Igbobi College in Lagos have emerged as regional winners of the Sahara Foundation Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) Program aimed at giving young African inventors a platform to develop their creativity.

The “Sahara Foundation STEAMers” Regional competition featured the top three teams that emerged from the national Demo Day competitions that held in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Sahara Foundation is the corporate responsibility vehicle of energy and infrastructure conglomerate, Sahara Group.

The regional finalists presented prototype designs of their solutions targeting several sectors including home automation, agriculture, security, energy, health, and transportation. The students displayed a profound understanding of embedded systems, additive manufacturing, and the ability to use human-centred design in creating sustainable solutions to prevalent social problems around them. 

The program gave 150 students access to deep-dive classroom learning and practical sessions. The classroom sessions were conducted by the program’s implementing partner, STEMCafe, a non-linear learning centre as well as mentors from Sahara Foundation Volunteer Group. 

Known as ‘The Watchmen’, the winning group from Igbobi College comprised Njubigbo Onyeka; Ayo Mofe Moses;  Ayilo John and Maduanusi Chigozirim.  The students produced a remarkable ‘Silent Digital Alarming Device, which they named ‘The Watchman.’ The device can help combat home and commercial burglary, as well as tackle unauthorized access into designated buildings and kidnappings in the society. 

The students explained that the device would enhance security through detection of the crime at the time where the crime begins, and alerts authorised persons through a registered device making them aware of a crime in progress. 

The device can also send a phone call to the police station registered on the device. “The device is ready for mass production, and we are confident that it would help increase security and lead to a safer community for all,” they said.

He urged the students to stay curious, to keep exploring their creativity, to deepen their STEAM knowledge further, and to continue pushing the boundaries of innovation towards solving challenges around them. 

Founder, STEMCafe, Bosun Tijani, said: ‘’The opportunity to expose more young people to STEM through projects that solve real life problems drives our goal of raising a new generation of change makers across Africa.” He said the organisation’s partnership with Sahara Foundation had paved the way for taking the “desire to dream” to more young Africans. 

Director, Sahara Foundation, Pearl Uzokwe commended all participants for being worthy ambassadors of Africa.