Punch
Three Nigerians were on Friday announced by the Federal Government as winners of the Nigeria National Order of Merit Award for the years 2020 and 2021.
While Dr Oluyinka Olutoye was named the winner in medicine (2020), Prof Charles Chidume clinched the award in science (2020), just as Prof Godwin Ekhaguere emerged as the winner in science (2021).
Olutoye, a renowned surgeon and scientist, was selected for the award for performing in-utero surgery on a foetus with large tumours, making him the first African to perform the feat.
Chidume, a professor of Mathematics at the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, was selected for the award for introducing a new and powerful interactive algorithm, which is the only one that does not involve the resolvent for approximating a zero of maximal monotone map.
Ekhaguere created new directions in Mathematics, deploying the outcomes to solve outstanding problems in the branch of Mathematical Physics called Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory.
While announcing the winners at a press conference in Abuja, the Chairman, Governing Board of the Nigerian National Merit Award, Prof Shekarau Yakubu, said the three winners were found worthy of the award for distinguishing themselves in their chosen careers.
