Kenya Varsity Emerges Winner of Zain Africa Challenge
- By Lawson Ovih
- Published June 22nd, 2010
- ITWorld
- Unrated
AFTER 15 weeks of intellectual fireworks by young gladiators from universities across the continent, Egerton University, Kenya, has won the Zain Africa Challenge Season four competitions in a tough encounter with other contestants.
The all Kenyan final saw the young academic gladiators from Egerton displaying outstanding intelligence, confidence and swiftness to outclass African Nazarene University by 740 points to 510 in a pulsating contest that kept the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the duration of the competition.
Egerton won the ultimate Zain Trophy in addition to $50, 000 in institutional grant as well as $5, 000 each to the participating students. One hundred universities competed in this season for the Zain Scholars Trophy and a share of over $1,000,000 in grants and prizes.
To get to the final stage where they won the trophy, Egerton University took part in the National Qualifying Tournament held in each country from November to January. The top 32 teams competed at the International Championship Festival in Kampala, Uganda.
University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Abuja; University of Maiduguri and University of Jos (Unijos) represented Nigeria at the International Championship Festival, and only University of Maiduguri made it to the quarter finals where it lost to Egerton University.
Deronke Asiwaju, Liaison, University of Lagos, noted that Zain Africa Challenge provided opportunities to the students to occupy their minds positively and created healthy rivalry amongst them as they compete to be selected to represent their universities. She said it provided opportunity for Nigerian universities to showcase their best students.
Also, Prof. Bassey Antia, Liaison, University of Maiduguri, said the challenge provided the students with an opportunity to sharpen their skills on strategy, and commended Zain for letting students into a wonderful world that many may never have known. “It is likely to rekindle interest in brain contests, spawn intra-and inter-university quiz competition, all of which should beneficially refocus tertiary education students on acquiring knowledge rather than on merely passing examinations,” he stated.
The all Kenyan final saw the young academic gladiators from Egerton displaying outstanding intelligence, confidence and swiftness to outclass African Nazarene University by 740 points to 510 in a pulsating contest that kept the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the duration of the competition.
Egerton won the ultimate Zain Trophy in addition to $50, 000 in institutional grant as well as $5, 000 each to the participating students. One hundred universities competed in this season for the Zain Scholars Trophy and a share of over $1,000,000 in grants and prizes.
To get to the final stage where they won the trophy, Egerton University took part in the National Qualifying Tournament held in each country from November to January. The top 32 teams competed at the International Championship Festival in Kampala, Uganda.
University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Abuja; University of Maiduguri and University of Jos (Unijos) represented Nigeria at the International Championship Festival, and only University of Maiduguri made it to the quarter finals where it lost to Egerton University.
Deronke Asiwaju, Liaison, University of Lagos, noted that Zain Africa Challenge provided opportunities to the students to occupy their minds positively and created healthy rivalry amongst them as they compete to be selected to represent their universities. She said it provided opportunity for Nigerian universities to showcase their best students.
Also, Prof. Bassey Antia, Liaison, University of Maiduguri, said the challenge provided the students with an opportunity to sharpen their skills on strategy, and commended Zain for letting students into a wonderful world that many may never have known. “It is likely to rekindle interest in brain contests, spawn intra-and inter-university quiz competition, all of which should beneficially refocus tertiary education students on acquiring knowledge rather than on merely passing examinations,” he stated.
