YOUNG AFRICAN MEDAL AWARDS IN MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

The event started at 4pm with the National Anthem and opening prayers. This was followed by the introduction of the Management staff of the National Mathematical Centre. Namely The Director General , Prof. S. O. Ale, the Deputy Director General , Prof Onumaiyi, the Registrar NMC, Mr. C. O. Adeyemo, The Acting Librarian NMC, Mrs. C. Aje, Dean School of Mathematical Sciences NMC Prof. A.R.T. Solarin, Acting Dean School of Theoretical Physics Associate Prof. B.O. Oyelami, Resident Consultant Mathematical Improvement Program, Prof. A. O. Adetula. The Resource Persons /Guest Speakers and Workshop Participants were also introduced.

After that Prof Ihsen Yenghi was invited to present his medal talk/lecture. The convener of the award Prof. A. R. T. Solarin gave a brief history of the how the award came into being. The first edition of the award took place in Nigeria and was hosted by the University Of Agriculture Abeokuta (UNAAB) where six (6) promising young African Mathematicians were awarded. He went further to inform the audience that for one to qualify for the award, the nominee must be nominated by six (6) out of ten committee members based on their paper presentations that had international acceptance. He went on to say he was a fulfilled man because in one way or the other he has had personal contact with the awardees. He was either a supervisor or lecturer at undergraduate or post graduate level or as mentor to them.

The highlight of the occasion was the presentation of the awardees who were two in number. The first was Dr. Uchechukwu Enyim Vincent, a staff of Olabisi Onubanjo University, Assistant Lecturer in Tai Solarin University. The second was Prof Ihysen Yengi from the University of Tunisia, whose works had been published in top leading journal of Algebra. He is now into Computer Algebra the latest in the field

The two awardees were presented by Prof. Solarin who gave a brief citation on each of them. The D. G. Of the Centre Prof. Ale who also is Vice President of the African Mathematical Union on behalf of the African Mathematical Union (AMU) presented a medal, a plaque and a cash award of 1000(USD) each to both awardees.

The D. G in his address apologised on behalf of the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu who was unavoidably absent due to tight officially schedules. He promise to make sure the Minister was present in the next meeting. He welcomed the Resource Persons/Speakers and Participants to Centre and Nigeria. He also thanked the members of the award committee for their tireless efforts and all others that contributed to the success of the workshop. He used the occasion to intimate the audience on the vision of the Centre. He gave a summary of the Program departments, the facilities and the various strategies and approaches the Centre was adopting to achieve her goals. He also enjoined the two awardees to see the award as a challenge and not to rest on their oars. He looked forward to their lectures in the future.
The ceremony ended at about 5:30pm.