By Emmanuel Udodinma
St John’s Science and Technical College, Alor, in Idemili South,
Anambra State, has won the 2021 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
Stem Fair Competition.
The competition sponsored by Total and Shell Petroleum Companies is an
annual competition for science and technology students in secondary
and tertiary institutions in the South East and South-South, while the
2021 edition centred on clean energy and artificial intelligence.
The manager of the college, Rev Fr Francis Unegbu, who disclosed the
victory of the institution to reporters, said over 30 schools in the
two regions entered the competition.
Fr Unegbu, who appreciated the School Proprietor, Most Rev Valerian
Okeke, the Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha for his encouragements to
the school, said entries were thinned down to 18 schools from
South-South and South East. Further assessments, according to him,
were done and still thinned down to five schools which were then
invited to come to Port Harcourt for face to face evaluation.
‘The panel of judges was drawn from the Universities of Port Harcourt
and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), and also
directors from Total and Shell Petroleum Companies who are the
sponsors,’ he said.
‘I want to tell you that to the glory of God, we came out victorious.
We are the champions. The winner is our student, Master Joshua
Chideraa Udedibia in SS1, from Electrical Department,’ Fr Unegbu said.
The school’s winning entry was a Robot produced by Udedibia and
Sebastian Menihu Okolo which obeys voice commands and moves in any
direction as commanded by the producer.
They beat the other four finalists, Edufort High School, Portharcourt,
Rivers State, Niger Delta Science and Technical College, Effurun,
Delta State, Federal Government College, Nise, Anambra State and Air
force College, Portharcourt, Rivers State to clinch the winning prize.
The college, a mission school owned by the Catholic Diocese of
Onitsha, was established in 1958 and has trained several notable
personalities, including former governor of Anambra State and current
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.
