News Releases

Releases for the public and media announcing new events, people, projects, or publications at NMC.

CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP

The capacity building workshop for mathematical sciences lecturers in tertiary instructions which is to run from 21st – 26th June has commenced. The aim of the workshop is to create opportunity fro mathematical sciences lectures to update their knowledge on some concepts and to acquire necessary instructional skills and competencies for effective and efficient teaching of mathematical sciences concept.
The workshop will touch the following areas:
• Model teaching Method;
• Identification and Teaching of Difficult Concepts at Tertiary level;
• Research in Mathematical Sciences and Mathematical Sciences Education;
• Statistical Tools for Research in Mathematical Sciences and Mathematical Sciences Education; and
• Improving Performance and Enrolment of Students in Mathematical Sciences at the Tertiary level.

The workshop witnessed the opening ceremony which held at the national Mathematical Centre’s auditorium. The ceremony had in attendance the Director General, National Mathematical Centre, Prof. S.O. Ale; The Deputy Director General, National Mathematical Centre, Prof. Peter Onumanyi, Prof. Kuku, Prof. Odili and many other eminent scholars. The convener of the workshop is the Ag.Dean of School of Mathematical Sciences Education, Assoc. Prof. S. A. Adeniran.

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON BANACH ALGEBRA

The closing ceremony for the 2 week long International workshop on Banach Algebra held at the National Mathematical Centre’s auditorium on the 16th of April, 2010. The Workshop had 29 participants from countries across West Africa. International resource persons for the workshop were Dr. Adras Zsak, Dr. J. F. Feinstein and Prof. H. Garth. National Resource persons were Dr. J. A. Oguntuase and Dr. O. T. Mewomo from the University of Agriculture Abeokuta (UNAAB).
The management and staff of the national mathematical centre were all present for the occasion. On the high table were The Director General NMC Prof. S. O. Ale, The Deputy Director General NMC, Prof. P. Onumanyi, Prof. Solarin, Dean School of Mathematics Sciences, Mr C. Adeyemo, Registrar NMC and Dr. Adras Zsak an International resource person.
Dr. Zsak in his remarks said he had a wonderful time during the workshop. He also mentioned that the students were eager and asked a lot of questions. He hoped to meet again in other workshops.
Dr. U. N. Bassey, the representative for the participants also made a speech. In his speech thanked all the instructors for giving wonderful lectures. He commended the participants saying they were all very enthusiastic students. He thanked the kitchen staff who worked tirelessly to ensure that their stay on the campus was enjoyable. He said he was happy that research activity at this level had started again and that mathematics was a key to development. He mentioned that the latest development in mathematics was Financial Mathematics and he strongly recommended that Financial Mathematicians work as consultants in places like CBN, NSE and other commercial banks. He then thanked the executive of the centre for making the workshop a success.
Certificates were presented to the participants by the Director General Prof. Ale and Deputy Director General NMC Prof. Onumanyi. After which the Director General gave his address where he mentioned the activities the centre was involved in. He also mentioned that the centre needed funding so that research activities could go on. He was liaising with other universities, starting with the University of Abuja, which were concerned with development on math4ematics in Africa. Presently he was vice chairman of African mathematics union in West Africa. His address ended with thanks to the participants and resource persons.
The occasion ended with the vote of thanks by Prof. Solarin and Muslim and Christian closing prayers.

UCMAS MENTAL ARITHMETIC WORKSHOP COMES TO AN END

The UCMAS Mental Arithmetic Training Workshop which began on the 24th of March, 2010 came to close on the 7th April, 2010. The three (3) week long program had 22 children from different states all over Nigeria as participants. The international Trainer was Mr. Liew Boon and local instructors were Mr. Emanuel Johnson (head teacher), Mr. Duff Uyo and Mr. Balogun Kazeem.
The closing ceremony began with the national anthem sung by the participants of the workshop. The ceremony was anchored by Mr. Gideon Wuyaku, Principal Zaria Academy who introduced all the guests that were present.The chairman of UCMAS Fr. Haruna Adamu, was unavoidably absent so his welcome address was read by a representative.
In his address he mentioned that UCMAS study centres had been established in some schools in Lagos, Oyo, Akwa Ibom and Kaduna states which have been granted sub franchise and have indigenous Nigerians; dully trained as course instructors. He also said that the UCMAS method affords the children an exponential increase in their intelligence memory due to the abacus training in mental computation as devices by UCMAS which emphasise problem solving skills.
He mentioned that the government of Sudan has contracted UCMAS to implement abacus training in its school curricula since 2005.He concluded his address by thanking Prof. Sam Ale, Prof. Solarin and all others who have assisted in making the workshop a success.
During the ceremony the children demonstrated what they had learned over the past weeks. It was amazing to see the speed at which the children were adding and multiplying rows of numbers. Prof.Solarin also conducted a mini competition in where the 1st participant who got the correct answer was given the sum of N1000.
Gifts and prizes were given to the participants. 8 students who excelled in both the junior and senior class were given prizes. All other students were given certificates. Certificates were also given to the schools that were represented. A certificate of commendation was give to the DG. NMC Prof. Ale.
The children sang the UCMAS song to end the ceremony. A vote of thanks was given by one of the participants. After that the closing prayers were made.

COURTESY VISIT TO NMC BY THE INSTITUTE OF SECURITY STUDIES

A team from the Institute of Security Studies paid a courtesy visit to the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) on the 30th of March, 2010. The meeting took place at the auditorium of the centre.
The occasion witnessed the welcome address of the Director General of the National Mathematical Centre, Prof. S. O. Ale. He began his address by thanking the guests who chose the centre as a place to find solutions. In his address he mentioned the functions of the centre; he also said he had tried by all means to bring mathematics into as many things as possible. He then urged the security institute to include staff in NMC as participants in their studies.
After his address, Prof. B. O. Oyelami, Dean School of Theoretical Physics NMC gave a lecture titled “Mathematical Modelling in the Military”. He said Mathematical Modelling is the act of relating mathematics to solve real life problems. He also said that Mathematical Modelling was very useful to mimic real life situations that were too dangerous to experiment with directly e.g. war situations and nuclear weapon experimentation. He mentioned that they were several existing models and potential ones which are useful in Air force, Infantry and the Navy.
In conclusion he talked about the military challenges faced globally in the 21st century. The foremost was how to combat terrorism. This he said will lead to the development of new models and simulation facilities.
After the lecture, the Director General of the Institute of Security Studies, Dr. O. Onoja (mni) briefly gave his remarks. He started by saying he was already finding solutions to some of their problems. He praised the Director General of the National Mathematical Centre amongst other things for not standing in the way of his own students from growing. This was because Prof. Oyelami indicated that had been a student under Prof. Ale. He stated that he had a poor background in mathematics and so mathematics made no meaning to him. He concluded by asking the centre to explain mathematics to those who don’t understand it.
There was a question and answer session right after that. One of the remarks made by one of the guests during the session was that the centre should push itself forward so that people will see what it was doing.
The Dr. Onoja gave the vote of thanks. He said he was better educated on what was going on in the centre. He was impressed by the simplified manner things were explained thereby making knowledge practical and usable. He urged the centre not to lose hope but to look forward.The meeting ended with closing remarks by the Registrar NMC, Mr. C. O. Adeyemo.

NMC/RMRDC MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF RAW MATERIALS PROCESSING EQUIPMENT GRANT 2009/2010

The awards ceremony for the winners of the 2009/2010 NMC/RMRDC Mathematical Modelling of Raw Materials Processing Equipment grant held on the 25th March 2010 at the National Mathematical Centre. The ceremony was attended by staff from the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) and Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC). The Registrar of the National Mathematical Centre, Mr. C.O. Adeyemo who anchored the ceremony introduced the Guest of Honour Engr. Peter Onwalu, the Director General of RMRDC and other dignitaries on the high table namely: Prof. S. O. Ale, Director General NMC, Prof. Onumanyi, Deputy Director General NMC, Mr Ezekpeasu, Ag. Bursar NMC, Prof. B. Oyelami, Dean School of Theoretical Physics.
The DG NMC, Prof. S.O. Ale deliver his welcome address where he thanked the RMRDC for taking an interest in the activities of the centre. His prayer was that there would be more areas of collaborations and further research interests in NMC. He went on to mention some of the activities carried out by the Centre. First and foremost he said the Centre had the mandate to carry out research in mathematical sciences. The second activity he mentioned was the Post Graduate Training program, also known as the Joint Degree Program, with the University of Abuja in Financial Mathematics. There were plans to include Mathematical Ecology, Mathematical Medicine and Bio Mathematics. Presently the Centre wants to deepen the area of Mathematics in Biology. Another activity he mentioned was the Centre’s involvement in Mental Arithmetic. It was the desire of the Centre to develop the brains of children so that Nigeria in the next 10-20 years will catch up with the advanced world.
Next the DG stated that the Centre was involved in Olympiads competitions. The Centre, he said helped to train and send students to Olympiads competitions but presently there were limited funds to carry out this activity. He went on to say that the Centre was involved in training workshops. Currently some the staffs in the centre were holding workshops in 3 senatorial districts in Kaduna state. Lastly he mentioned that the Centre held continuous Post Graduate Training seminars. A seminar on Algebra was to hold the next week which will be attended by guests from different parts of the world. The DG ended his address by congratulating the 3 winners of the grants awards and advised them to make judicial use of the grant.
After his speech, Prof. S. O. Ale invited Prof Onwalu, the DG RMRDC for his address. Prof Onwalu began by appreciating the NMC for all they were doing. He said he held NMC in high esteem. He was impressed by the professional ethics applied to select the winners. He said this goes on to prove the large level of merit in what the centre was doing. He again thanked the Management staff of the Centre for the collaboration; he said it was hard to find organisations working together. In the same vein he mentioned that without partnerships the country could not move forward. He then thanked all his staff especially Dr. Ayo whom he said was the brain behind the award.
After that he spoke in great details about RMRDC and her activities. RMRDC he said operated as a council and so did not house scientific laboratories or equipment. Instead they looked into the community to find institutions, both government and private, that could handle projects and then partner with them. Generally, he said the RMRDC was to create an enabling environment to be able to source raw materials within the country. He mentioned that industries import about 90% of their raw materials even though Nigeria is blessed with a lot of raw materials. This he said was because the resources were still in their raw state and not in the form the industries could use. Something had to be done to move the resources from their raw state to a secondary state which industries could use. The RMRDC is meant to create the environment for this process to take place.

Prof Onwalu in his speech mentioned some of the activities of the council namely:

1. Information generation. This he said was generation of data on natural resources in the country. Every year he said survey projects were commissioned to get information.
2. Analysis of information for private organisations. Data he said could be used for feasibility studies. These data was available to entrepreneurs
3. Encourage research. A large chunk of funds was targeted at research and development. Any area of research in value addition qualifies for a grant.
4. Pilot plans. This he said will be joint venture with individuals or governments.

He then said that the medium term plan of the council in the next 4 years was to develop raw material clusters in every Local Government Area (L.G.A). For example palm kernel processing cluster. This he said will go a long way to solve the problem of unemployment. He also mentioned that his organisation would work in partnership with other organisations like NAPEP. However he said machines were needed to make theses dreams come to pass. He then added that RMRDC aimed at creating am enabling environment for local engineers and fabricators to develop functional processing machines. That is why they were interested in the Mathematical Modelling project and he promised their continuous support. The grant which was initially given to only one winner had now been increased to three winners. To conclude his speech, he congratulated the winners and urged them not to just focus on modelling equipment but to look beyond that.

The high point of the ceremony was the presentation of the awards. The three winners selected were;
First Position was Taiwo Ademiloye from Project title: Mathematical Modelling for Design and Fabrication of Cassava Drying Rotary Dryer.
Second position went to Nwankwojike N. Bertrand. Project title: Modelling of Palm Nut-Pulp Seperator Surface analysis.
The third position was Olufemi A. Koya Project title: Mathematical Modelling of Communution by Hammer Mill.

Mrs Taiwo was nominated to give a short response on behalf of the awardees. She began by saying she saw the advert for the grant in the papers and applied without knowing anybody in NMC. This she said was an indication that the staffs in NMC were faithful and the whole selection process for winners was done properly. She said faithful men will always select the best. She assured the audience that the awardees will give their best.
After that Prof. S. O. Ale made a presentation to the Prof. Onwalu in appreciation of his kind gesture and his presence during the ceremony.The ceremony ended with a vote of thanks from the project manager Prof. Oyelami and then closing prayers.

THE 2010 MANAGEMENT RETREAT

The 2010 management retreat of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) recently held in Akure, Ondo state.

The Director General of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Prof S.O. Ale along with his Deputy Prof. P. Onumanyi led the team of delegates from NMC to the retreat which started on the 16th March 2010 and ended on the 20th March 2010.

The retreat was in collaboration with the Ondo State Ministry of Education. Dignitaries like the Honourable Commissioner for Education Dr (Mrs.) Adenike Fatogun and the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education, Mrs Yinka Obe (mni) and other staff of the ministry were present during the opening ceremony of the retreat. They were also present at several other meetings in the course of the retreat.

The essence of the retreat was to brainstorm and discover effective ways to move the centre forward in the year 2010. Deans of the various schools in the centre, heads of units and state facilitators presented reports of their activities in 2009 and their projections for the year 2010.

Other activities during the retreat were; a visit to the Governor of Ondo state, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, a visit to NMC Ondo State pilot schools, and an excursion to Oke Idanre Hills.

A team headed by Prof. Ogidi was selected to draft and present a communiqué of the activities and resolutions made during the retreat. The presentation and adoption of the communiqué was part of the closing session of the retreat.

The retreat ended on a good note. The team has since them returned to office and resumed their activities with renewed zeal and vigour.he

CLOSING CEREMONY - NATIONAL COMPETITION FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS (NAMCUS)

The closing ceremony for the national competition for university students (NAMCUS) 2010 held on the 11th of February 2010. The competition which started on the 7th February ended with the closing ceremony.
The ceremony which started at about 4:30 pm began with prayers from a Christian and Muslim. The PRO of the National Mathematical s Centre, Mr. Njoku compered the occasion, began by introducing the Chairman of the occasion Prof. S. O. Ale, the Director General of the centre. Other dignitaries were then introduced, this included Prof. P. Onumanyi, the Deputy Director General of the Centre, Prof A. R. T. Solarin Dean School Mathematical Sciences and also the Coordinator of the Competition, Mr. Ezekpeasu Acting Bursar, and Prof. Adeniran, Dean School of Mathematics Education.
The Chairman of the occasion gave his opening address in which he welcomed all that were present for the occasion. He then commended the students for being patient and enduring all conditions during their stay on the campus. He remarked that mathematicians were generally coolheaded and serious minded people. The chairman’s vision was for Nigeria to participate in global mathematics competition. A nation he said was known by their brain power. He cited the example of china which was rising fast because of what they could produce. He stated that the National Mathematical Centre had introduced the Olympiads competitions because Science and Technology was what made a nation improve and Mathematics is the head of all sciences.
The Chairman then congratulated the students and lecturers that were present for the competition because not every university that had the privilege. He further stated that in the international competitions Nigeria was not yet among the first 20, and also not among the last 20. He added that he was sad during the last international Mathematics Olympiad because Nigeria did not receive any medal. This he said was a result of student not being grounded in mathematics. The desire of the Centre was to have Nigerian students grounded in Mathematical Sciences right from their foundation. His desire was for Nigeria to be among the 1st 20 countries in the world. In conclusion he thanked the students and their lecturers for coming and encouraged the students to do better next year.
The coordinator of the event, Prof. A. R. T. Solarin also gave his remarks. He said that at the beginning of the competition 15 universities were present. 13 universities came with students and 1 university came as observers. 54 students wrote the exams but 14 were not considered because the jury found irregularities. In the end, the completion was restricted to 40 students. He further stated that as a rule 50% of contestants were to be given medals. This meant that 20 students would be given medals.
Three (3) students got gold medals, six (6) got silver. Fourteen (14) students got bronze medals instead of eleven (11) because 3 students tied in one position. All students that participated would be given certificates of participation. The lecturers that came with students would be given certificate of attendance.
The Coordinator after his speech called on the Chairman of the Ceremony, Prof. S. O. Ale to present the medals to the students. The vote of thanks was given by the Deputy Director of the Centre, Prof. P. Onumanyi. He thanked the Director General of the Centre for his continuous support; he also thanked the Coordinator of the competition, Prof. A. R. T. Solarin for his efforts especially for taking time took to set the questions. He then thanked all the especially the kitchen staff for their supported. He encouraged Heads of Departments of universities to ensure their students of come for the next competition. With the closing prayers the ceremony came to an end.

JDP MATRICULATION 2008/2009

The Joint Degree Program of the National Mathematical Centre on the 9th of December, 2009 held its third matriculation ceremony. Fifty five (55) students matriculated. Forty Five (45) of the students registered for MSc. Financial Mathematics while Ten (10) students registered for PGD Financial Mathematics.

The 2008/2009 Matriculation ceremony had in attendance the Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof. J. S. A. Adelabu, The Director General of the NMC, Prof. S. O. Ale, the Librarian of the University of Abuja, The Deputy Director General of NMC and Dean Joint Degree Program (JDP), 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, members of staff of NMC and gentlemen of the press.

The ceremony started at 3.42pm began with a procession of the matriculating students led by the Registrar of the Centre, Mr. C. O. Adeyemo, into the Auditorium. After that the opening prayers were made by a Muslim and a Christian. The 2008/2009 matriculation ceremony was declared open by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof Adelabu.

The Director General of the National Mathematical Centre gave the Opening Address. From his speech he said that the Centre received 1,000 application but only 52 were offered provisional admission to pursue the Masters programme in Financial Mathematics and 12 Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Mathematics. He encouraged the students to take their studies seriously.

The D.G. also stated that Financial Mathematics was offered by very few universities in the world and so it was necessary for those universities to expose the students to adequate training. He ended his address encouraging the students to be very useful and positive citizens of the nations.

After his speech the Dean, Joint Degree Program, Prof Onumaiyi presented the matriculating students to the V.C. of the University of Abuja, Prof Adelabu, who read to them the matriculation oath. In his short address he said he shared the vision of the D. G. and had always seen himself as part of the Centre. He further stated that he will always encourage a cordial relationship between the University of Abuja and the Centre. Finally he encouraged the students to be ambassadors of the Mathematical Centre. The ceremony was declared closed by Prof Adelabu at 4.18pm.

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.

CLOSING CEREMONY-MENTAL ARITHMETIC
The closing ceremony of the International Training Workshop on DUAL HAND ABACUS MENTAL ARITHMETIC took place on the 16th November, 2009 atMerit House Maitama, Abuja. This ceremony marked the end of the one month pilot programme in which 66 pupils from all over the country participated.
Many guests were attendance, some members of the high table were:
1. Senator Hassan Gusau - Zamfara State.
2. Commissioner for Education Plateau State.
3. House Committee Chairman, Education, Ebonyi state - Hon. Isu
4. The wife of the Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Onoja.
5. Plateau State Subeb Chairman – Mrs Sarah Ochekpe
The welcome address was given by the Prof. S.O. Ale, director General of the NMC while the ceremony was coordinated by the Registrar of NMC, Mr. Adeyemo.
The peak of the ceremony was when Mrs. Evelyn Chiang one of the CMA partners gave her speech. After which she presented the students for their demonstration. The children thrilled the audience with their demonstration. They sang in sang and counted in the Taiwan language. They recited poems like the ten principles of success, the abacus song and so on. It was a marvel to see young children multiplying two to three digit numbers and getting the answers within seconds.
There was a competition in which Kamal appear as the winner, he was awarded the sum of fifteen thousand naira (N15, 000). The second position went to Blessing who won the sum of ten thousand naira. The 3rd and fourth positions were given the sum of five thousand naira each.
The CMA partners were also given gifts by the National Mathematical Centre. The founder of CMA Mr. Ting gave a closing remark in Taiwan with Mrs. Evelyn interpreting.
The vote of thanks was given by Prof. A. R. T. Solarin (Chairman International Workshop on Mental Arithmetic). Prof. Solarin added colour to the event by dressing in full Taiwan attire.

NMC INTRODUCES MENTAL ARITHsMETIC
The National Mathematical Centre is pleased to introduce Mental Arithmetic to our educational system. In partnership with Adroit Resources Development Ltd and working with CMA pioneered by Tai Chiang Ching from Taiwan has organised a one month training programme. This pilot programme began on the 19th of October and ended on the 16th of November.
66 pupils of different age groups and classes were drawn from different part of the country as participants for the training programme. Their performance has been amazing. Some benefits of the programme include:
(i) Enhancement of mathematical skills and intelligence.
(ii) Sharpening the power of focus, concentration and memory.
(iii) Enhancing self confidence, thinking skills and creativity.
(iv) Stimulating audio visual and other kinaesthetic senses.
(v) Boosting imaginative powers and response/reflexes.
(vi) Ensuring pupils balanced development with high IQ/EQ.

All the children along with their teachers were hosted at the National Mathematical Centre. This was not an easy feat to accomplish but the task was well handled by all the staff in the Hostel and Catering Services unit. They worked tirelessly round the clock to provide for their guests.

NMC Retrains 100 Yobe State Teacher
One of the primary responsibilities of the centre is the improvement of the teaching and learning of the Mathematics Sciences at all levels. This is predicated on the fact that the teacher and learning of the Mathematical Sciences in the present time needs much attention: One major strategy to improve the teacher effectiveness in the classroom is the retraining of the teachers. This is precisely what the Centre has carried out with Yobe State Government retraining One hundred Mathematics and Science teachers of Secondary Schools that cut across the State. This training took place between March 9th – April 9th, 2008. It included an intensive Computer training (two hours every day). The Centre believes that all teachers must be computer literate.

Mathematical centre will produce great scientists in years — Prof Sam Ale
Recently, the National Mathematical Centre won a gold medal at the Pan-African maths contest for the first time.
we hosted the Pan-African mathematics Olympiad and this is the 17th edition, and the international observers adjudged it to be the most well organised Olympiad ever; the best, and they suggested to me that if we desired to host the international Olympiad we will get their support and in fact they encouraged us to do so. So by the grace of God we would be hoping that Nigeria will host the rest of the world. Of course there are countries already lined up to 2012, so now I am going to make Nigeria line up as well, let’s say 2013 or 2014 we should be hosting the whole world by what we have done in Pan-African Olympiad and also by taking the 1st position. Of course Nigeria is rated very high, and of course Abuja is considered a very nice, good place for such an international event.
Winning awards is a thing of pride for the country, but of what use when the scientists produced can not help fix problems that require scientific expertise, for example the power sector.
You see at one time for four consecutive years, the Nobel Prize winners in Economics were mathematicians. Mathematicians who later went into economics and they won the Nobel Prize. If you want to produce Nobel prize winners in Nigeria, what the National Mathematical Centre is doing in bringing out this young ones; giving them the best of training ever. Because if you see the kind of questions and problems they were given to solve, in fact, final year undergraduate students could not be able to solve them, so they have already started doing all these. These are secondary school students in their final year in secondary school.
Either in SSS 1, SSS 2 and SS3. They compete in such difficult problems in Mathematics and they are able to solve them, and if you match them with undergraduate students; I think they are better, right from this their youth. Now you see our end result is to see that we produce Nobel Prize winners in the future or scientists of great repute in different areas of endeavour.
We want to be producing the Albert Einsteins, the Isaac Newtons and of course Chike Obi who is in Nigeria , but we have not been able to produce Nobel Prize winners in science and technology here in Nigeria . But with what we are doing now, in some years to come you are going to see the results, because these are the people who are going to research areas, and in every area they go, you are going to see a break-through.

Nigeria: FG Earmarks N4bn for Science Education
The Federal Government has deployed the sum of N4 billion towards improving the capacity of teachers and pupils, in the teaching and learning of the three core science subjects, namely Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology at the secondary school level.
Under the special scheme tagged Mathematics Improvement Training Programme, the Federal Ministry of Education, through the National Mathematical Centre, will train teachers in the designated courses for a period of two to three years, while the teachers will in turn return to their respective schools to impart the knowledge gained. Fifty schools in each state of the federation will benefit from the scheme
In the pilot scheme, the Director General said, the Katsina State Government invested N10 million in building the capacity of teaching and learning Mathematics among teachers and pupils in seven schools over a period of two years.This investment, resulted in a significant improvement in the performance of students in Mathematics with the percentage of students passing Mathematics at the school certificate level leaping from a dismal five per cent to 90 per cent in Katsina State.
He explained that PAMO was one of the numerous efforts by the Federal Government to encourage participation of young Nigerians in competitive examinations in Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences, so as to stimulate enthusiasm for the physical sciences in talented Nigerian scholars.
He also said, science and technology has become the basic tools for the development of modern society and a measure of the level of development, adding that mathematics remained the bedrock on which scientific and technological development can be built. He observed that Nigeria was very backward in the sciences and needed special programmes to reverse the trend

NMC will take Nigerian students to world class contests

In its efforts to project the image of Nigeria as not only the most populous country in African continent but as well as the most intellectually advanced, the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) has perfected all arrangements to send Nigerian students to different countries of the world where they will compete with students from other parts of the world.
Beginning from July this year, the centre will take Nigerian students to Vietnam for the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) while other students will go to Iran for the Physics Olympiad.
The NMC is also to fly some brilliant Nigerian students to Russia for the Chemistry Olympiad with other outstanding students going to Ghana for the Biology Olympiad.
Based on the sterling performances of young Nigerians at both the 2006 and 2007 editions of the Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad organised by the African Mathematical Union (AMU) during which the country won silver and gold medals respectively,  the Director General said that the NMC has since then received invitations from all over the world, asking the country to send representatives for these intellectual competitions. The 2007 edition was hosted by the NMC in Abuja last month.
According to  the Director General, Nigeria was nowhere to be found in these international competitions but now, the country is making waves, adding that nothing gladdens his heart than to see the flag of Nigeria flying among the comity of nations.
He says: “Raising the flag of Nigeria whenever these world bodies gather gives me joy and I feel proud. What we are doing at the centre is to make sure that Nigeria remains unbeaten by other nations in the area of Mathematical sciences. These competitions are no longer strange to our students. They can now go to any part of the world confidently as they know that they are intellectually capable.”
NMC under  our  Director General has been concentrating efforts on popularising science and Mathematics in the country. The centre,  started off by taking measures aimed at demystifying the teaching and learning of Mathematics in primary and secondary schools in the country.
To achieve this goal, the NMC produced some basic Mathematics textbooks and kits for primary and secondary schools. The books were designed to re-awaken and reactivate the Mathematics potential of these students.
 These unique strategies which NMC has been adopting in making the subject friendly: “We try to demystify the fear which students have for Mathematics. We try to make it less abstract. We approach its teaching practically and show students, objects like a triangle. We show them the usefulness and introduce them to mathematical games. They will be playing games and will be learning about Mathematics at the same time.”
Just as the centre has been providing students and teachers with materials that will aid the learning and teaching of Mathematics, it has also put in place a joint-degree programme in Financial Mathematics, a postgraduate degree programme which it is running in conjunction with the University of Abuja.
The programme, which commenced from March this year, is having about 50 students on its enrolment. The purpose of the programme is to train a very high level manpower in mathematical sciences.
Speaking on the usefulness of this postgraduate degree programme,  the Director General said: “In the next ten years, universities will not lack teachers in the mathematical sciences because we are going to put different universities together and train en-masse post-graduate programme in the centre. It is a great beginning because no single university has had up to 50 post-graduates in a mathematical programme before. Infact, by next year, the figure will be increasing to 200. With our direction, Nigeria stands to gain a lot because we have taken note of the lack of teachers in secondary schools and higher institutions.”
 The Director General, however, wants government as well as corporate bodies to pay special attention to the improvement of science and Mathematics at all levels, adding that special grant should be given to universities and colleges of education which will empower them to improve the production and training of Mathematics and science teachers.

 

PROFESSOR SAM ALE, OFR, mni RE-APPOINTED AS THE DIRECTOR GENERAL

Professor Sam Ale, OFR, mni has been re­ appointed for a 2nd term of five years as the Director General and Chief Executive of the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja by Mr. President. The re-appointment was based on the excellent report on him by the Minister of Education wherein Professor Ale was commended for contributing immensely to the transformation of the Mathematical Science and Mathematical Sciences Education in Nigeria and other areas of human endeavour; for introducing new methods for demystifying mathematics as well as making mathematics simple, real and scintillating to pupils and students and for promoting the image of Nigeria in Mathematical Sciences internationally, especially in the scientific activities in the International Mathematics and Sciences Olympiads. It will also be recalled that Nigeria's contingent, through the National Mathematical Centre, produced Africa's best pupil mathematician in the just concluded 2007 Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (P AMO) held in Abuja; Prof. Ale, has prudently managed the lean financial resources of the Centre and has also initiated many revenue generating programmes and activities including an Endowment Fund, which has invariably improved the internal revenue base of the Centre. Indeed, his policy direction and research stimulation have provided teaching modules, textbooks, mathematical games, and kits for the Universal Basic Education Programme. We pray that God Almighty will give Professor Sam Ale, OFR, mni the wisdom, strength and understand to lead the Centre to the Promised Land. On behalf of the Council, the Management and staff of the National Mathematical Centre, we congratulate the Director General for his re-appoinent and wish him more successes in the years ahead.