Gov. Abiodun honours Maths genius, Faith Odunsi, 33 other laureates, institutions

The Ogun State Government under the leadership of Prince Dapo Abiodun is rolling out the drums, Thursday, to honour Miss Faith Odunsi, the 15-year-old student of Ambassadors School, Ota who last month won the Global Open Mathematics Tournament.

Odunsi emerged the winner of the global tourney by 30 clear points ahead of opponents from China, the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa and Germany. Faith first won the hearts of many in 2018 when she set a record in the Cowbellpedia Mathematics Competition by answering 19 questions in 60 seconds.

A statement by Kunle Somorin, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun said also to be honoured are other indigenes of the state who have won academic laurels in different fields.

To be honoured are: Olasunkanmi Opeifa, Oluyemisi Oladejo and Olalekan Adeeko.

Opeifa, one of the 10 finalists for 2020 Global Teacher Prize teaches English Language at Government Day Secondary School, Karu-Abuja but hails from Igbogila in Yewa North local government area. Oladejo, a teacher with Oronna High School, Ilaro is the First Prize winner for 2020 African Writer’s Award, while Adeeko from Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta won the 2020 African Union Continental Teacher Prize.

Also to be the recognized are: Tijani Fatimo of Abeokuta Grammar School; Oguntade Treasure of Molusi College, Ijebu Igbo and Okusanya Jesutofunmi from Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu-Ode who won the first, second and third prizes respectively at the National Mathematics Olympiad of the National Mathematical Centre in Abuja.

The rest are winners of the Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS); Awards of Excellence in Leadership and Productivity; President’s Teachers’ Excellence Awards students and institutions of higher learnings that have excelled in different spheres like Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbesa for being the most compliant institution in keeping to the guidelines on admission.

The event which will take place at Obas Complex inside the State Secretariat at Oke Mosan, Abeokuta will be witnessed by Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who will join virtually from Abuja.

The statement said the government will always identify with excellence in conduct and academic endeavours.

“To encourage deep thinking and creative genius inherent in the people of Ogun State, the Government shall continue to nurture and encourage any indigene of the state with demonstrated ability to perform, achieve, and/or excel in scholastic activities.

“No stone will be left unturned to identify high achieving and exceptionally creative young persons with superior acumen, craft and performance. We will give them recognition because that is the only way to speed up and maximise development of their intellectual capacities and skills in order to deploy such in service of our common humanity,” the statement submitted.