Cowbellpedia semi-finalist emerges overall second best in UTME

A semi-finalist in the 2018 editions of Cowbellpedia Secondary Schools Mathematics TV Quiz Show, Master Emmanuel Chidiebube Igban has emerged the second-best candidate in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME). According to the results just released by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), 16-year-old Emmanuel scored 346 out of a maximum of 400 in the nationwide examination. His result is just one point behind the best overall recorded by Franklin Ekene. Emmanuel represented Ambassador College, Ota, Ogun State at the Cowbellpedia Mathematics competition at the junior category as a 13-year-old in 2016 and returned in 2018 to compete in the senior category.

That second attempt, he got to the final stage where he was outwitted by Juliet Ekoko and Enoch Adelekan, both of the same Ambassadors College. At a recent media interaction in Lagos, Abiodun Ayodeji, the Marketing Manager of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, explained that the objectives of Cowbellpedia are to awaken the consciousness and interest in Mathematics amongst Junior and Senior secondary school students in Nigeria, improve students’ performance in the subject pan Nigeria, create a clear platform for identifying outstanding students, encourage and reward excellence in Mathematics through a creditable platform.

Apart from Emmanuel, other stars of Cowbellpedia Mathematics Quiz Show include Ayodeji Akinkuowo, winner of the senior category in the maiden edition of the competition, who is on a government scholarship to Russia studying Aeronautic Engineering. The competition has also produced other highflyers like Munachi Ernest-Eze, who won the Junior Secondary School category in 2015. Two years later, he showed consistency by winning the Senior Secondary School category in 2017.

The 2018 edition threw up another hero in Faith Odunsi, a student of The Ambassadors College, Ota Ogun State, who set a competition record in speed and accuracy by answering 19 questions in the “60 Seconds of Fame” segment to advance to the semi-finals in the junior category. Faith’s feat shattered the record of 17 questions in that segment set in 2017 by Emmanuel Mebude, a student of Ogunlade Memorial Secondary School, Surulere, Lagos.

At the 2018 finals in Lagos, the Director of Examination Development at the National Examinations Council (NECO), Mr Mustapha Abdul, who represented the Acting Registrar, Mr Abubakar Gana, commended Promasidor for the Cowbellpedia initiative and pledged the council’s continued technical support for the project. He described the project as laudable as it enables students across the country to compete openly, adding that Promasidor deserves a national award for promoting scholarship through this Cowbellpedia initiative over the years.

Result of the nationwide Stage One examinations for this year’s edition of the competition is to be announced in June with the best 108 students (54 each for junior and senior categories) proceeding to Stage Two, which is the Television Quiz Show. It will be in a quiz format which is further sub-divided into preliminary, semi-finals and final rounds.

The show will be serialised in13 episodes weekly and aired on major television stations across the country. The ultimate prize for this year’s edition is N2 million and an all-expense paid educational excursion outside the country. The first and second runners-up will go home with N1.5million and N1 million respectively. While the teacher of the top prize winner will be awarded N500, 000, those of the first and second runners-up will get N400, 000 and N300, 000 respectively.