It was a remarkable weekend for the members of University of Ibadan Alumni Association (UIAA) Worldwide, Onitsha Chapter as they kick-started their end of the year programmes.
Annually, the chapter organizes events in two phases; public and private. The public event is where they interface with members of the public through humanistic and charitable endeavours, while the private event is strictly where they host their families, friends and close associates to a get-together party.
According to Prof. J.C Orakwe, the Chairman of Onitsha chapter, who revealed that the chapter organises its annual programmes to synchronize with the University of Ibadan yearly programmes. “we organize our activities to coincide with the University of Ibadan founder’s day events which is usually held annually by the university between 15-17 November.”
He said that it is usually a period in the chapter’s calendar when the Alumni thank God for the year and use the opportunity to contribute charitably to society.
The first of the series of events which the chapter outlined to hold this year, 2024 was a science quiz competition that was held on Saturday, November 16, 2024 at Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) Onitsha.
The competition which targets secondary schools of senior classes within Onitsha metropolis, Ogidi and Otuocha seeks to help prepare students participants of SS2 and 3 for examinations because the subjects tested are Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics
The aim of the science quiz competition by the chapter is to discover young talents, encourage studies in the science based subjects, further motivate students to choose career in the field of sciences, help elevate the standard of education in the state to a meritorious level, create awareness and generate interest in the students to choose to school in the University of Ibadan, the premiere university.
Since 2013 however, the competition has waxed stronger and the objectives have been met consistently.
This giant stride has spurred the Alumni into moving the competition to a higher level that will keep it relevant and at par with current standard examinations conducted in the Nigerian education sector.
In achieving this, the Computer Base Test (CBT) was introduced in the 2024 edition as an innovation that has moved the quiz away from the manual format of examination that was used.
Speaking about this latest development, Prof. Orakwe said, “for sometimes now, we have been thinking about having a CBT which is the ‘in-thing’ now among secondary schools and university examinations.
This is the first time we are applying it and it was very successful.
“Also, being the very first time, we initially encountered some teething problems.
When we were about to start we discovered some technical challenges which we got the managers and our own members who are IT specialists to help set up and configure the systems and within a short time we were able to solve the problems and started. The test went smoothly thereafter till the end.”
He said that the Saturday edition had in participation, 105 candidates from 35 schools.
“We learnt a lot from the process that will help us tackle the challenges during the subsequent editions.
It gave us a lot of experience on how to tackle it next year.”
“Next year’s edition is going to be smooth and super because we have learnt what the problems are likely to be and we will start to tackle them on time.” He added.
Concurrently, the Chairman of the organizing committee, Dr P.N Okafor said that the conduct of the CBT was not an easy task but it has been finally set up to be used by the chapter for subsequent editions of the competition.
“A lot of resources were committed. It took both human and capital investments to achieve a successful outing on Saturday but the joy was that it was successful.”
Prof. Mark Ofoefuna, the secretary of the chapter quipped that the conduct of the CBT on Saturday, being the first time, has moved the competition from the analogue base that it was to a more acceptable and credible format that saves time and energy.
At the end, the following winners emerged; Chidi Arinze Franklin took first position; Nwanekwu Delight, second position, both from Devine Royal International College, Nkpor.
Queen of Rosary College, Onitsha and DMGS had a tie for the third positions.
The next day, being Sunday, October 17, 2024, the chapter went for their annual thanksgiving at Saint Valerian Catholic Church, Akpaka, Onitsha for a successful year.
Immediately after, the whole team moved straight to Holy Trinity Catholic Church Gate for a charity visit, where the destitutes were fed.
According to Prof. Orakwe, “I don’t even know how the impressive idea came about but it was impactful and meaningful.
“The people were happy to receive the food packages but the visit made a great impression on all of us that participated. We were humbled and happy to have been directly involved. We saw humanity on display.”
Prof. Ofoefuna opined that this is the first time the chapter’s charity endeavour got directly to the people that needed it, unlike the initial visits where the chapter will donate money to some charity homes and it may not be used for the purpose it was targeted.
“People commended this particular method that we adopted.
“I was just seeing the heavens smiling and clapping for us.” He concluded.
