By Albert Akpor WHEN the heavy bombardment began all within hearing radius cowered in fear or scampered to safety. The deafening, earth-shaking sound immediately conjured in their mind the image of a place suddenly being invaded by an enemy force armed with the most advanced weapons of mass destruction.

The Director-General of the National Mathematical Centre, Prof. Sam Ale said the research effort speaks volume of the scientific approach being employed by NERDC in solving the nation’s education problems.

The conduct of the old boys of the two West African Secondary Schools is, indeed, a lesson to alumni of Nigerian universities, many of whom are not keen at lending support to their alma mater which are today in very bad shape arising from inadequate funding.

According to him the local government area has been affected by the dwindling fortune of education both in infrastructure and otherwise, hence ‘we have decided that we should create a competition that will expose the children to quality academic challenges that will contribute to the overall development of their minds.

“One may well venture to ask: What has happened to the famed legacy of our graduates from Ibadan, Lagos, Nsukka, Ife, Zaria, Benin and other universities? What has happened to the innovative spirit of our university system and the search for excellence for which it attained international acclaim? How should the nation, at this critical juncture of its development, take a lacklustre attitude towards sustaining the quality of its premier resource?,” he asked.