Undergraduates of Nile University win ₦2 Million at the 2022 Professor Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition
In a bid to encourage undergraduate students to use technology to solve problems within Nigerian communities, the UNILAG Engineering Society initiated the Professor Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition (PAADC) in 2017. After five successful editions of the competition, the sixth edition of the PAADC was held on Saturday, October 22, 2022, at the University of Lagos Main Auditorium, Lagos, Nigeria.
Hosted by AB AKYNZ and Treasure Okure, PAADC 6.0 Grande Finale brought together students from different Nigerian tertiary institutions, industry leaders, and top tech-driven brands. To kickstart the event, Ridwan Ganiy delivered an address that highlighted the impact of innovation and how PAADC has kept progressing over the years.
In attendance was the Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Nigeria, Adia Sowho, who gave a keynote speech and facilitated a contest sponsored by the mobile telecoms company, MTN Nigeria. At the end of this contest, 10 attendees won brand new MTN 4G MiFi devices while one lucky person won the MTN 5G Router.
With only five teams making it to the Grande Finale of the competition, the Head of the competition body and scope team, Adeniyi Adebayo took to the stage to give a recap of the masterclass organized for the top 20 applicants. To pitch their ideas, the finalists were brought before a panel consisting of Ojoma Ochai (Managing Partner of The Creative Economy Practice at CC Hub), Ginikanwa Frank-Durugbor (Head of Corporate Communications at Lafarge Africa Plc), Nkem Nweke (Project Manager, Engineering Innovation at Microsoft), and Ibifuro Apiafi (Account Executive at Smile Identity) and moderated by PAADC’s Head of Quality Control and Sustainability, Ademilade Shodipe-Dosunmu.
At the event, the maiden PAADC Innovation Report which features interviews from young innovators, and institutions promoting and supporting innovators was launched by Otunba Akinbo Akin-Olugbade (PAADC BOT), Ridwan Ganiy (PAADC 6.0 chairman), and Israel Alabi (Finalist, PAADC 3.0). The report is now available online at no cost.
After the excellent pitches from the finalists, the audience and judges finalized their preferred winners and the announcement was made. Team Foosion (Covenant University) came fifth, followed by Team Protronics (UniPort). Team Enactcare (TASUED) came 3rd and walked away with 1 Million Naira. Team Helgg (Covenant University) was the 1st runners-up and won 1.5 Million Naira. Team Interna (Nile University) was crowned the winner of PAADC 6.0 and received 2 Million Naira.
To close this year’s event, Deputy Chairman of PAADC 6.0, Sheriff Alabi gave a vote of thanks and appreciated all who participated in making the event a success. Without any doubt, PAADC 6.0. was a great display of creativity, innovation, ideas, and insightful panel discussions that sparked ingenuity among attendees who are now left to anticipate the next edition of the competition.
