Ondo student wins N7.5m Interswitch national science contest

A student of Hallmark Secondary School, Ondo State, Abraham Daramola has emerged the overall winner of the 2023 edition of the InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition.

The annual competition with the last edition fifth in the series is being organised by Interswitch group, an integrated payments and digital commerce company, among secondary school students nationwide.

By winning the competition, Abraham received a university education scholarship valued at N7.5 million, spread over a period of five years.

He is also entitled to a monthly stipend throughout his studies, a laptop and certificate of recognition as the best STEM student in Nigeria.

Securing the second and third place positions were Emmanuel Omoegbeleghan from The Crescent International School, Ogun State, and Emmanuel Angelo-Hyuwa from The Ambassadors College, Ogun State, who won N4 million and N1 million scholarships, respectively.

The top three emerged out of about 17,000 students, who applied for the competition nationwide.

InterswitchSPAK competition, a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Interswitch group, is designed to recognise, reward and celebrate exceptional efforts of brilliant young minds striving for excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.

Now in its fifth year in Nigeria, the initiative has directly reached over 80,000 students in both Nigeria and Kenya, boosting students’ interest in STEM subjects.

Speaking about the competition, Vincent Ogbunude, Managing Director, Interswitch Cards and Tokens (Verve), said the company is using the contest to illuminate the path for the next generation to innovate, create, and lead in the world of science and technology.

Ogbunude, in a statement made available to newsmen, added that the company expanded the prize pool in this fifth edition to include the fourth prize winner up to 24th with each of them given N250,000 for their efforts.