‘Why I invented three educational games’

Mr Akinwole Adebayo Najeemdeen, a native of  Ile-Ife, Osun State, is a teacher, creative thinker and educational material developer. In this interview with MODUPE GEORGE, he speaks about his newly-invented games and plans to give them global recognition. Excerpts

YOU invented three games all at once, what motivated these achievements?

First of all, I give thanks to Almighty God, the one who made everything possible and successful. The idea of inventing new games is a dream that I have been nurturing since my childhood days. As a teacher, I have always wanted to impart knowledge and impact greatly not only my students, but also the entire world. My educational background as an educationist and experience in publishing industry actually speaks a lot about these great feat. Recently, I resigned as a senior editor from Spectrum Books Limited, Ibadan to further my studies and to focus more on my personal projects.

Can we share in your personal projects?

Presently, my main project is the educational games MECAMA games that I have just invented. The MECAMA games are three games with different identities and know-how. They are proudly made-in-Nigerian products.

Tell us more about MECAMA games?

MECAMA games is the general name given to the three games; they are the MARCO game, E’MARCO game and COGA game. The games are actually meant for everyone, as long as they are able to count, read and write. There are many benefits inherent in MECAMA games. They are a kind of instructional materials that cater for cognitive, psychomotive and affective domains of learning. The games also engage players to think logically, critically and conceptually and to stimulate the players’ interest in the learning of major subjects like Mathematics and English Language. For instance, MARCO game is a game with many Mathematical concepts, while E’MARCO and COGA games are for Verbal Reasoning, Word Formation, Bord building and Spelling Mastery.

What actually prompted you to come up with these innovations?

As a teacher, I discover that a lot of students dread Mathematics. So, the idea of how to make the subject appealling to them ina  more relaxed mood and interactive manner got me thinking, hence the idea of MECAMA games came to mind. There is no gainsaying the fact that quite a number of students dread calculations as a result of many factors ranging from – physical, societal, cultural, biological, among others. Generally, the games are mainly to entertain the players and onlookers; they marry fun with learning. They engage players in logical and critical thinking which are basic foundations to learning any subject.

Who can enjoy or play MECAMA games: MARCO, E’MARCO and COGA?

Anybody can play and enjoy the games, both adult and children. I mean every literate and semi-literate can play and enjoy MECAMA games. Apart from the usefulness of the games in schools, they are also good household recreational materials. Like I earlier stated, MECAMA games are purely educational materials, so the target audience are students from upper primary classes to senior secondary classes.

Have you lauched the games?

Not yet, the reason is that, at the maiden meeting of the planning committee for the lauch. we decided that, for a big and trail-blazing project like this, an important national personality should be involved. Hence, we chose the Imperial Majesty, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II as the Convener and Royal Father of the official launch. We have sent the prosal to him on our plans and everything is in the pilpeline.

You brought in the Ooni of Ile-Ife, what necessitated this move?

As a matter of fact, his Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife was brought in for different reasons. The Ooni is a young man, who loves the youth, supports and encourages youthful activities. More so, the inventor of the games is a thoroughbred Ife indigene. Hence, the achievement is not only attributed to Ifeland, but also to the nation and the African continent at large. Another reason, is to honour the Imperial Majesty as the convener of the games launch, whereby all the activities related to the games are dedicated to him. We are engaging the king because games, traditionally and historically are perceived to be connected with culture and lastly, it is to give the games through him the a world-wide awareness.

How do you intend to circulate the games nationwide?

The planning committee members and the sponsor have been working tirelessly to ensure that the games reach a prosperous level and are officially launched before being circulated for public consumption. After the launch, efforts would be made to appeal to the Federal Government to include MECAMA games in our school curriculum as co-curricular activities because of the inherent benefits of the games. We will also ensure that MECAMA games are included in NUGA, NIPOGA and NICEGA. At present, MECAMA games are in their physical nature. We plan to develop them as smartphone applications and computer softwares for easy and global acceptability and accessibility. We also plan to circulate the games by engaging many unemployed youths in the act of selling them to schools, bookshops, supermarkets, online trading stores and everywhere that educational materials are sold.

In what way can the government be of help?

I want to appeal to the government and the wealthy people in the country to open their doors to new ideas and creativity. There are quite a number of youths with excellent ideas that can move the nation forward, but funding the project is a challenge.