A FORMER student of Oyemekun Grammar School, Akure, Ondo State, Jesuoluwajoba Ebenezer Ademehin, made history in far away Bangkok, Thailand last week, when he clinched one of the  bronze medals at the 42nd  International Physics Olympiad (IPhO).

Ademehin’s feat makes it the first time ever that an African country would win a medal in any category in the Physics Olympiad, since it was first organized in Warsaw, Poland, in 1967.

About 390 students from 84 countries participated in the yearly event, held between July 10 and 18. A total of 54 gold, 68 silver and 93 bronze medals were distributed among the respective winners. Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya were the only African countries at the event, but the last two left, leaving Nigeria’s five contestants as the continent’s only representatives. Three of the five contestants: Ayodeji Bode-Oke, Musa Damina and Ayomide Bamidele are students of the Nigeria-Turkish International College, Abuja.

In this year’s contest, the best nine countries were from the Asian continent. They include Taiwan, China, Korea and Singapore, which clinched five gold medals each. Others were India, Kazakhstan, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong. Each of them won three gold medals.

It was hardly surprising that the best countries were from the same region, Asia, because their respective governments are known to pay serious attention to all Olympiads, especially those related to the sciences. Malaysia, another Asian country, is also popularly known for Mental Arithmetic, which Dr Haroun Adamu, the founder of Zaria Academy, Kaduna has now introduced in the country.

The contestants collaborated with and used the facilities of the Nigeria –Turkish International College (NTIC), Abuja under the supervsion of Mr Ayhan Yaman, the college’s Head of Physics Department.

Ademehin told The Guardian that God made it possible for him to achieve his feat. His words: “For this achievement, I thank my God and Father ultimately. I appreciate the support I received from my family: nuclear, extended, and spiritual. I appreciate the Ministry of Education in Nigeria and the National Mathematical Centre (NMC). I appreciate the support I received from the Nigerian Turkish International College (NTIC), and Yamanlar Koleji in Izmir, Turkey for housing, feeding and their interest in me and the science olympiads.

“Specifically, I appreciate the support I received from Mr. Yaman Ayhan of NTIC and my Mr. Omer of Yamanlar Koleji. Lastly, I appreciate the support I received from my friends, other members of the 2011 IPhO physics team for Nigeria, and everyone else.

“I believe Nigeria can do better in the IPhO if sufficient support is given to the Olympiads and the students. I advise that the Olympiads (in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Informatics) be taken more seriously and given a high priority.”

Bamidele said: “The competition lasted for 10 days, with two days in-between several outings, dedicated for the theoretical and experimental examinations.

“The first examination was the theoretical, which consisted of three questions that was to be written for five hours and the second was the experimental part, with two experiments which equally lasted for five hours. The questions in each exam had their difficulties and proved to be hard for some contestants.

“The last day of the event was the closing ceremony where the contestants were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. Below bronze was the honorable mention certificate, which was also awarded to some contestants. It was also during this event that the first medal (bronze) for Africa at IPhO was awarded to a Nigerian contestant- Jesuoluwajoba Ebenezer Ademehin.”

Another contestant, Folami Samson Oluwaseun said: “This year’s competition commenced with the opening ceremony, although the Nigerian Team missed the ceremony because one of our flights was cancelled. The competition had two parts; the theoretical and experimental competition which were held on separate days. Many students had a tough time with the theoretical competition because it had more of calculus than the physics problems itself, while the experimental competition was a bit easier for me.

“We all tried our best to get the ultimate goal, which is to win a gold medal, but it was only a member of the team that was able to get a bronze medal which is one of its kind in Africa.

“Glory be to Almighty God for crowning our efforts this year by raising the flag of Nigeria through Jesuoluwajoba Ademehin. I also thank God for granting us safe trips to and from the venue, even though we encountered a lot of difficulties during the journey.

“My sincere appreciation goes to the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja for their support, the Nigerian Turkish International College, Abuja for training and accomodating me, my school, Agbonran School of Science, Ede for their contribution and above all, my parents and siblings for their support.

The last contestant, Musa Damina could not be reached for comments at press time.

After first competition, the second IPhO was organised by Prof. Rudolf Kunfalvi in Budapest, Hungary, in 1968. The third was arranged by Prof. Rostislav Kostial in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in 1969, while the fourth took place in Moscow, the former Soviet Union, in 1970.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55862:team-nigeria-makes-history-wins-bronze-in-international-physics-olympiad&catid=80:education&Itemid=610

This is really cool to me. I've met and currently work with some gold and silver medalists in math and physics, and they are some of the smartest people I know.

This type of thing is typically dominated by academic powerhouse countries like China, Korea, India and Iran.

Congratulations to all of the Nigerians who participated, but a big congratulations to Ademehin especially. God bless him for bringing this medal to Africa.

May Nigeria get many more.

I'll be watching this guy closely, I am sure he is on the cusp of excellence. No doubt we'll be hearing about him again over the next few decades.

Up Ondo state

Nice.

Only a few weeks ago, I was asking a friend what happened to great schools like Oyemekun, Aquinas, Fiwasaye, Ondo Boys, etc.

Apparently these schools are now a former shadow of themselves due to govt neglect.

The flight to ridiculously expensive private schools is sad.

I am waiting to see what the response of the Nigerian authorities will be.

Fellows like these students should be well received by senate presidents and other high government officials. Some Nigerians have done very well at Mathematics Olympiads, Chess? Olympiads etc. but i am yet to hear of a high profile reception of these achievers (upon their return) by the powers that be. Instead, it is 'Big Brother Africa' winners and also-rans that get to meet with the likes of David Mark.

We are watching.

I bet my life before clicking that this award must be a SWner!. . .when you see any drug or arm robbery related thread. . .then names shall be in likes of Okoro,okafor,tochukwu. . .Muhehe!

ekt_bear:

This is really cool to me. I've met and currently work with some gold and silver medalists in math and physics, and they are some of the smartest people I know.

This type of thing is typically dominated by academic powerhouse countries like China, Korea, India and Iran.

Congratulations to all of the Nigerians who participated, but a big congratulations to Ademehin especially. God bless him for bringing this medal to Africa.

May Nigeria get many more.

I'll be watching this guy closely, I am sure he is on the cusp of excellence. No doubt we'll be hearing about him again over the next few decades.

I actually participated in qualifications for the national olympiad thingy (Mathematics) eons ago (Man I don old).

But shocked gotta confirm, I thought no AFrican country will be capable of winning this award.

SEFAGO:

I actually participated in qualifications for the national olympiad thingy (Mathematics) eons ago (Man I don old).

But shocked gotta confirm, I thought no AFrican country will be capable of winning this award.

IMO (international mathematics olympiad)? What is the process like in Nigeria? How do they select the team?

Also, have you ever heard of this Nigeria –Turkish International College? I guess it must be pretty damn good if half the team came from there.

[img]http://flagcounter.com/count/Nsu/bg=F4F4F0/txt=F4F4F0/border=F4F4F0/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=1/[/img][img]http://2.s01.flagcounter.com/count/Nsu/bg=F4F4F0/txt=F4F4F0/border=F4F4F0/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=1/[/img][img]http://states.flagcounter.com/count/q0/bg=F4F4F0/txt=F4F4F0/border=F4F4F0/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=1/[/img]
wow, im so proud of them, go go go naijaaa

Good job Nigeria

ekt_bear:

IMO (international mathematics olympiad)? What is the process like in Nigeria? How do they select the team?

Also, have you ever heard of this Nigeria –Turkish International College? I guess it must be pretty damn good if half the team came from there.

Yeah man, they come from there all the time. The school has consistently groomed gurus; it has been their tradition for many years, even during my days in high school, Although the school is almost populated with kids born with silver spoons in their mouths(Ajebo, butter), I can surely confirm that they are very, very, very smart, This one no be say na dem say. Forget all those crappy private schools O, TIC is in a world class of its own!

The qualifying round is like a clash of some of the smartest kids in Naija. Based on what I used to know, about 11 years ago, the process involves intense academic competitions among schools at both state and federal levels. The brightest and the best students then proceed to represent Naija at the international level. Before they go, the students are housed at the national mathematical centre(used to be headed by Prof Sam Ale in Abuja) and completely tutored for some weeks by some of our own top professors there in Naija, After some weeks of strong tutoring, the students are flown abroad to compete against their peers at the world level. Again, to the best of my knowledge, the best we were able to do in the past was come 20th, 32th, etc,

Now, to that smart kid from a public high school in Ondo, I say congratulations. It is people like him we should counsel our growing sisters and brothers to emulate and even surpass sef, if possible.

I am happy that something like this eventually came out of Nigeria; people like us dey jabo that time for state qualifying series. The boy's achievement is simply laudable! I wish him a continuous and strictly increasing success. This kid may just be our own Albert Einstein in the making-

TD.

i congratulate the guy for this excellent award,it shows that as nigerians and africans,we are not intellectually bankrupt after all,we only need the right leaders to fix our educational system so that great things like this can continue to happen.this award has brought to fore once,the plight of our public schools in the country.

exorbitantly expensive private schools like the nigeria turkish int college,loyola jesuit college,and the likes produce the best results in waec year in year out,and also represent nigeria in international competitions.what is the government doing for heaven's sake?

Congratulations to the Nigerian team and most especially to the guy who won the bronze medal. I was lucky to be in the first Nigerian team to the International Physics Olympiad in Pohang, South Korea in 2004 and it was a lovely experience although we had no chance of winning any medals due to lack of interest from the government at the time. It's good to see that government is showing a lot more interest now. Before long with the appropriate preparations I'm sure Nigerians will be among the gold medalists.

congrats to the chaps,
our edu system is not that after-all.

Thats a phenomenal achievement.Well done guys

[/quote][quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=722710.msg8807221#msg8807221 date=1311854498]
IMO (international mathematics olympiad)? What is the process like in Nigeria? How do they select the team?

Also, have you ever heard of this Nigeria –Turkish International College? I guess it must be pretty damn good if half the team came from there.

I actually did qualifications for IMO, and the physics one. The give state exams and then ask top performers to come seat for a national one after which they'll select a team. Getting that Bronze is a pretty good achievement. One thing I can say having participated is that it is not that Nigerians can't do well in these exams it is just that must secondary school curriculum don't cater to this kind of stuff. I remember then, I was still doing integration in further maths when I participated. All the other kids from the different countries were far ahead of the curve by that time. Most countries like Romania, US and others have training camps that are entirely dedicated to this stuff. This is a really good achievement. Nigerians have also won Bronze in IJSO. It is also an international competition.

As for Nigerian Turkish school or whatever. IMO it is not that good. I disagree with the previous comment about that. Their school fees alone precludes most people in Nigeria. In all my time going to these competitions back in sec school, never met anyone from Nigerian turkish qualify. IMO that place is just a bastion of wealth and it display by the kids of the Nigerian elite. This is a biased opinion based on a relatively small sample set of their grads that ve met tho, so don't take my word for it.

I am really happy for this guy though. It should not just be about him though, I think he has opened the door for a lot more to come after him and establish Nigeria-Africa- as an academic powerhouse too.

good good,
small hope still remain 4 this country!

Great achievement. Très bien

ekt_bear:

IMO (international mathematics olympiad)? What is the process like in Nigeria? How do they select the team?

Also, have you ever heard of this Nigeria –Turkish International College? I guess it must be pretty damn good if half the team came from there.

Exactly what flo_path said. And nothing in the nigerian curriculum prepares you for it. You have state exams, then national one, then go for the international.

I dont know too much about Nigerian-Turkish International college but they also do wlel in those competition for some reason I guess

Gbenge 77:

Thats a phenomenal achievement.Well done guys

flo_path:

I actually did qualifications for IMO, and the physics one. The give state exams and then ask top performers to come seat for a national one after which they'll select a team. Getting that Bronze is a pretty good achievement. One thing I can say having participated is that it is not that Nigerians can't do well in these exams it is just that must secondary school curriculum don't cater to this kind of stuff. I remember then, I was still doing integration in further maths when I participated. All the other kids from the different countries were far ahead of the curve by that time. Most countries like Romania, US and others have training camps that are entirely dedicated to this stuff. This is a really good achievement. Nigerians have also won Bronze in IJSO. It is also an international competition.

As for Nigerian Turkish school or whatever. IMO it is not that good. I disagree with the previous comment about that. Their school fees alone precludes most people in Nigeria. In all my time going to these competitions back in sec school, never met anyone from Nigerian turkish qualify. IMO that place is just a bastion of wealth and it display by the kids of the Nigerian elite. This is a biased opinion based on a relatively small sample set of their grads that ve met tho, so don't take my word for it.

I am really happy for this guy though. It should not just be about him though, I think he has opened the door for a lot more to come after him and establish Nigeria-Africa- as an academic powerhouse too.

I am jocund that you were smart enough to simply construct the highlighted statement the way you did. As I believe that we are all learning, I would like you to educate yourself a little.

http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=203282

Feel free to voice your disagreement!

good thing they are breaking records

tanimola22:

I am jocund that you were smart enough to simply construct the highlighted statement the way you did. As I believe that we are all learning, I would like you to educate yourself a little.

http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=203282

Feel free to voice your disagreement!

ok. I indicated in that post that I am very biased. Besides, I was talking about a specific period. 2004-2006 for IMO, physics and IJSO competitions. I know a guy from there got bronze medal in IJso recently. Even my own crappy sec school has 4 Ijso bronze medals and several national medals so kini big deal. What I was trying to indicate is that, the way you said it, you make it seem like the school is far and above the best in naija when it is not.

Besides, the link you posted indicated that they proudly educate the kids of past presidents and Nigerian state officials. Basically, they educate the kids of those stealing naija's money. That is my problem with them. It is a very good school there is no question about that. I am just offering my own biased opinion. Finally, why do you care so much? chill my guy. The point of this thread is to celebrate someone's success, not antagonize others.

rhino, What do we xpect from a dimwit who was gangr.ape.d as a child?? People like u make bills for the legalization of abortion credible. Humanity shouldnt have to put up with as.swipes like u, Maloo. U should have been mastu.rba.ted away as a spe.rm!!!

very brilliant performance.

kudos to the guy.

flo_path:

ok. I indicated in that post that I am very biased. Besides, I was talking about a specific period. 2004-2006 for IMO, physics and IJSO competitions. I know a guy from there got bronze medal in IJso recently. Even my own crappy sec school has 4 Ijso bronze medals and several national medals so kini big deal. What I was trying to indicate is that, the way you said it, you make it seem like the school is far and above the best in naija when it is not.

Besides, the link you posted indicated that they proudly educate the kids of past presidents and Nigerian state officials. Basically, they educate the kids of those stealing naija's money. That is my problem with them. It is a very good school there is no question about that. I am just offering my own biased opinion. Finally, why do you care so much? chill my guy. The point of this thread is to celebrate someone's success, not antagonize others.

Okay, cool you agreed the school is excellent. And we(or I) have well celebrated the smart kid's success, My comments were clearly not meant to 'antagonize' anybody, Finally, and obviously, children of politicians did not choose their parents.

Someone from a public school actually did us proud.

I though some weeks back someone was arguing that its products of Corona, Grange etc that are the smartest.

una don start again o, which one come be the old mata when una one relate to now??

tanimola22:

I am happy that something like this eventually came out of Nigeria; people like us dey jabo that time for state qualifying series. The boy's achievement is simply laudable! I wish him a continuous and strictly increasing success. This kid may just be our own Albert Einstein in the making- TD.

I agree, our own Albert Einsten. A close watch should be placed on that guy. Congrats to him and his team mates.

Lol y'all are funny as hell

@Ekt_bear do you have an email, I wanna ask you something, sorry for calling you out like this.

Nothing can be compared with a brilliant child, not even money. They always bring immeasurable joy. Congrats boy, hear your name in near future.

Congratulations!

But, nothing differentiate him from you and me if the brain is not used to help the community, he will only end up just like a tag on an empty sachet! What matter is practical not just the theoretical all the time!

I can say Albert Einstein was more of a theoretical physicist than the one who practiced it in real world. in his time physics was poorly dealt with. No disrespect to him, when it comes to physics, I think Albert Einstein is overrated!