‘We have achieved our objectives in Nassmac’
After 12 years of sponsoring the Cowbell National Mathematics Competition (Nassmac), Chief Keith Richards, managing director of Promasidor Nigeria Limited in this special interview says it has not been a wasted investment.
Focus on mathematics
If you go back and look at our products and our consumers, our products are consumed in a family environment, so all of our CSR, not just National Secondary Schools Mathematics Competition (Nassmac), all of our CSR focus on the family, children, mothers, health and nutrition and also their education because you are not just feeding the body, you are also feeding the mind. So around 14 years ago, when we were looking for an area to focus our CSR, we started developing the cowbell mathematics competition, of course the first two years was in Lagos and later it was made a national project about 12 years ago, but it is still within our area of core competence.
Objectives achieved
Yes of course we have achieved our objectives. If you track the performance of students in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) in the last 10 years, you will see that there has been improvement in the number of credit passes in mathematics and a drop in the failure rate. That can be attributed to the effect Nassmac is having on students because each year the number of students registering to participate in Nassmac keeps increasing as more and more schools are getting interested, our exam centres have increased, in fact this year, the first stage exams were held in 200 centres across Nigeria. That shows the kind of interest in mathematics we have been able to generate through this competition and that is one of our major objectives. We have also responded by increasing the number and value of the prizes we give our winners.
The impact
The research we do is with the national mathematics centre, they do the research and we work with them and that is how we know how mathematics result in WASSCE is doing. We partner with them because it is their responsibility to monitor the progress of mathematics in Nigeria. In terms of the brand, we do in our corporate research, in our brand research, we do evaluate the impact and it is pretty clear that in our target group which is the family, you have children in schools, mums that are looking after the family, they do recognize cowbell and promasidor as a responsible brand and company and this reflects positively on the brand.
A worthwhile Investment
Of course it is. The reason I know is that when I sit in those competitions and you see the number of children that have done extra mathematics, for example, this year we are targeting 60,000 students, last year we had 34,000 students. Most schools in an effort to select their representatives organize a quiz or test for their students so as to select those that will represent the school. So we believe that as many as 400,000 or 500,000 students actually did extra mathematics to prepare for this competition. So if that many kids are actually doing more maths, that has to be a good thing for improving their mind and for the development of a key skill for the progression of the Nigerian youth for employment for development of the country.
Winners from the elite schools
We try very hard to make sure we have the widest possible outreach. And of course an ideal would be that we have a complete mix where there is ethnic, geographical, gender and also economic balance in the winnings, but ultimately, we are not manipulating it they have to do the exams, so the winners reflect those that are good in mathematics. Now what we are doing and one of the reasons why we have been expanding, like this year we are in 200 centres, that means we are not just doing centres in Ikoyi and Victoria Island and Abuja, we are really moving out across the country and getting a cross section of the students from public schools, private schools and across the geographical areas because we want winners to reflect as wide as possible. But you know not all parents can afford to send their children to the best schools, and there tend to be a bias in the winning towards those children in the best schools because the failure of state education in Nigeria penalizes a majority of Nigerians in favour of those who can afford to pay for their education. And that is the reality. But because of the way we do it, we do everything we can do to democratize the competition.
National Awards in Abuja
We hold the examination in all the states and we do the award ceremonies in Abuja because that’s where we can get the most exposure and we also invite special guests in the person of the minister for education and other senior people from the government and the national mathematics centre. it would be easier to get them to attend if it is in Abuja than if it were in any other state.
Exams without expo
We are engaging with NEO Media who are very professional and they have handled the exams for a number of years, it comes back to the issue of consistency. We also work closely with the states ministries of education and the federal ministry of education as well as the national mathematics centre. We have 42 depots around the country, we have a large sales force and we can utilize and mobilize those resources at the exam centres. You will see our sales force acting as invigilators, they make sure that the envelops are sealed when they are released at the exam centres and when the answer scripts are collected. It is such a huge logistic operation.
Nassmac 2012
We have increased the venue and we are targeting 50,000 students. An interesting thing that we have done this year is putting the past questions on our website to assist students with their preparations. As usual we will sponsor winners to represent Nigeria in the mathematics Olympiad.
One of the things that Promasidor as a group do is, there is a college group, the African Leadership Academy and it was set up by Africans from around the continent but it is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, they take very bright students and they develop them for high end academic development, these are really really bright African students. We sponsored two and the first one that we sponsored, at the age of 17 was offered places in Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Oxford, she was really brilliant, I think she chose Yale. When they are looking for really bright scholars around Africa, they use Cowbell mathematics competition as one of their ways of helping to identify bright kid particularly from families who cannot afford to send their kid abroad. The academy helps to arrange sponsors for them. So there is a number of ways that we keep in touch with our past winners.
Other initiatives
Nassmac is our flagship programme and the biggest of our community development initiatives in terms of the resources we put in it, but we do a lot of other things. For example, we focus a lot in schools, we have our reward for excellence programme. This year, in over 3,000 schools, we will do the reward for excellence under the cowbell chocolate banner and that is at the end of terms and year, we give special prizes to children for great academic achievement, sports and good morals, we also reward the teachers. We also do a lot in sports, we sponsor the popular animal game, which is always fun, we sponsor rugby, a sports that is developing in Nigeria, we are working with the Nigerian Rugby Federation to develop rugby in schools. We also do the Para-soccer.
Then we do things with our local community, here in Isolo, we put street lights, we have donated medical equipment particularly focusing on pre and post natal care. On a wider basis we have supported pediatric care, most recently we gave incubators and equipment to University College Hospital Ibadan, we have done one recently in Imo State. We also respond to emergency disaster relief with our products.
You don’t do these things because you want to wave a flag and say come see what I am doing, you do them because they are the right things to do. You don’t do them because you want reward from government or the community, the interesting thing is, our staff and our managers, get a good vibe for being part of the company, it gives them a sense of pride.
Again when you do these things you would be seen as a responsible organization, you work closely with regulatory bodies like Consumer Protection Council (CPC) , Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Foods and Drug Administration and Control (Nafdac) and so on. They know who you are, they know you are responsible and you have a better relationship with them. When you are recruiting new staff or managers they know that you are a responsible company.
We do spend a lot of money, we do spend a lot of time, Nassmac is our largest CSR programme and I think we can legitimately claim that in terms the principles of CSR, a genuinely good corporate citizen, I think we can be as good as anybody in Nigeria today.
Selection and Sustainability of projects
As soon as you get reorganized as a company doing CSR, you get so many requests. The pile of requests on my desk is quite high ranging from building borehole, to roads and so many other things. And because of the failure of government to live up to its responsibility, everybody is reaching out to anybody else to provide those services. So you have to make a choice based on your focus and what can be sustainable because a good CSR has to be focused, it has to be consistent and it has to be sustainable. So we focus on family, that is where we are concentrating, family in its widest sense. We try not to do one off event, except in the case of disaster. But generally speaking, we look at things that can last, Nassmac is 14 years still going, Para-soccer is now eight years, Animal games is five. So we try to be consistent and the other thing is sustainable, you can only do what you can afford, if you have money this year you do more, next year you don’t, it is not providing a sustainable link with the community. But it is really tough, until government begin to provide social services especially in health and education, there is going to be the need for corporate bodies to step in to do things that in other countries government can be relied upon to do.
CSR in-house
It comes in a number of ways, the first thing that we do in terms of salaries, remuneration and benefits, we benchmark ourselves against all of our peers, other multinationals to make sure we are in the upper quartile of remuneration and benefits and in fact we give more than that. Our welfare package is very competitive. The unions will always ask for more and sometimes less than healthy, we dialogue with them and that is natural. But there are a number of other things that we do, we have won several prizes for our environmental standard, our work environment for our workers, for example, we are spending $1.5million air-conditioning the factories to make sure the working temperature is acceptable. We are just building a new canteen it has been designed to be in compliance with food regulations and create a conducive environment for our workers to eat.
And in terms of our waste disposal, we have state of the art effluent treatment plant for our liquid waste and we are working closely with government on the disposal of solid waste.
So in terms of internal CSR, we strive to implement best practices as well.
Behold the state champions
With the release of the result of the first stage examination in the 2012 edition of the Cowbell National Secondary Schools Mathematics Competition (Nassmac), the battle ground has shifted to the second and final stage examination which holds on June 9 2012 in the six geo-political zones.
The results show wonderful performances from kids in states like Rivers, Ogun, Benue, Ekiti, Imo, Lagos, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja where candidates scored 90 per cent and above.
In fact the states to watch in this year’s competition are Rivers and Ogun States. In Rivers, the junior candidate made 99 percent. He is from Charles Dale Memorial International School, the same school that emerged national champions last year in the junior category showing that they are not yet ready to let go of that first position and the senior from Graceland International School PortHarcourt, made 90 per cent. Graceland was national champions in the junior category in 2009.
In Ogun, the junior from Ota Total Academy, the school that emerged national champions in the senior category in 2007, made 97 per cent while his senior colleague from Iganmode Grammar School also of Ota, the school that produced last year’s national champion in the senior category made 96 per cent.
From all indications, the best performers are schools that have won at one time or the other showing that at the end of each competition, schools that made it to the award ceremony return to their schools with a vow to win the next competition.
The list of the state winners are here displayed for you to know your maths whizkids.
Akwa Ibom
Junior Obj Theo Total
Effiong Etim Effiong, Govt. Sec. Sch., Afaha, Eket M 74, 14 88
SNR
Imeh Victor Okon, Beulah Int’l Sch., Ekom Iman M 60 19 79
Anambra
Junior
Obiekwe Olisaemeka Wisdom, St. Paul uni. Sch., Nibo- Nise M 68 13 81
SNR
Chukwubueze Promise, Bishop Crowther Seminary, Awka M 66 20 86
Bauchi
Junior
Jibril Aliyu Shehu, Islamic Orientation Sec. Sch, Azare M 40 11 51
SNR
Zakka Mbishow Immaculate Conception, Gubi Dam Road M 48 15 63
Bayelsa
Junior
Okarinya Siso Biobelemoye, Belary Schools, Imirigi Road F 38 18 56
SNR
Ibaba Ledum Ayibaemi, Belary mont jnr. Sch. & col, Imiringi Rd M 48 17 65
Benue
Junior
Akor Emmanuel Akor, Calvary Arrows College, Aliade, Gboko M 74 19 93
SNR
Akuhwa Fater, Calvary Arrows College, Aliade Gboko M 66 17 83
Cross River
Junior
Udobang Joshua Jacob, Govt. Sec. School, Uwanse M 60 13 73
SNR
Chris-Okoro Chigozirim Nnamdi, Access High Schs, Henshaw Layout M
68 19 87
DELTA
Junior
Asarhasa Victor Ufuoma, College of Edu. Dem. Sec. Sch., Warri M 74 10 84
EDO
SNR
Agha Ifechukwude, Oregbeni Estate Sec. School, Benin City M 68 20 88
EKITI
Junior
Malachi Olaoluwa Petoa, City College, Ekute Ado-Ekiti M 76 15 91
SNR
Olorunfemi Gabriel Christ School Snr. Secondary, Ado Ekiti M 56 19 75
ENUGU
Junior
Okeke Chidera Onyedika Mea Matre Elizabeth High Sch, Agbani M 68 12 80
SNR
Idika Uduma U. A. UNN Sec. Sch., Enugu campus M 58 17 75
GOMBE
Junior
Bappah Babangida Jibwis, Islamic Sci. Sec. Sch., commercial area M 52 10 62
SNR
Nchoro Trust Donald, Zenith Int’l Integrated College, Doma M 62 10 72
Imo
Junior
Adolalom Obinna, Living Word Academy Sec. Sch, Mbakwe Road M 74 18 92
SNR
Amaechi Daisy Udochi, Federal Govt. Girls College, Owerri F 54 16 70
Jigawa
Junior
Garba Koli, Sa’adatu Girls’ Junior Science Sec. School, Guri F 28 7 35
SNR
Abdulkarim Abubakar Sci. Sec. Sch., Kafin Hausa, Dutse M 50 19 69
Kaduna
Junior
Rabiu Shamsudeen, NITC Kaduna Boys, Rigachukunkmis, Kaduna M 58 14 72
SNR
Ibrahim Ismail Adamu, NITC Boys College, Rigachukun M 70 20 90
KANO
Junior
Bdullahi .S. Ahmad, Govt. S. S. S., Warure Gwale M 78 20 98
SNR
Aniobi Tobias Henry, Nigerian Turkish Int’l College, Ring Road M 72 14 86
Kogi
Junior
Raji Arafat Muzammil, ASCL Staff Comp. Sec. Sch 1, Ajaokuta M 64 8 72
SNR
Onimisi Benedict, Christ The Good Shepherd Academy, Anyingba M 70 18 88
Kwara
Junior
Okunola Toluwani, Effective International College, Tanke F 64 10 74
SNR
Akerekan Olayinka, Baptist Model High School, Gbagba Ilorin M 64 18 82
Lagos
Junior
Okwunze Kenechukwu, Apostolic Faith Secondary School, Anthony M 74 16 90
SNR
Akinjide James Ayokunle, The Learning Field, Satellite Town M 70 20 90
Nasarawa
Junior
Aliyu Joan Ovaoiza, Brightway International Sch, Nasarawa 46 7 53
SNR
Godwin Uchenna, Federal Government College, Keffi M 46 16 62
Niger
Junior
Midala Hyellamurti, Police Secondary School, Minna F 52 12 64
SNR
Shodipo Ahmed Ajibola, Federal Governnent Academy, Niger M 60 20 80
Ogun
Junior
Akintokun S. Adegboyega, Ota Total Academy, Ota M 80 17 97
SNR
Uwa Benjamin, Iganmode Grammar School , Idi Roko M 76 20 96
Ondo
Junior
Akinwande Boye, Greater Tomorrow College, Ikare-Ajowa Road M 76 11 87
SNR
Arotiba Blessing, Greater Tommorow College, Ikare, Ondo State F 66 17 83
Osun
Junior
Omole Ayobami Omobonike, Bibo-Oluwa Academy, Lekoja Ilesa F 74 18 92
Plateau
SNR
Akinola Daniel Mojola, Baptist High School, Jos M 50 20 70
Rivers
Junior
Douglas Leslie, Charles Dale Mem. College, Gwuruta, P/H M 80 19 99
SNR
Shorinwa Olaoluwa, Graceland Int`l School, Liberation Rd., P/H M 72 18 90
*Sokoto
Junior
Aminu Bashir Jawad, Blue Crescent Schools, Mabera M 42 13 55
SNR
Aniebonam Valentine, Royal Comprehensive Sch, Dendo Rd M 42 18 60
Taraba
Junior
Obadiah Emo, Rhema Christian Academy, UMCN, Kofai M 50 18 68
SNR
*Samuel Esther Rhema Christian Academy,Umcn Kofai F 44 14 58
Zamfara
Junior
Saifullahi Ahmad Musa Govt. Day Sec. Sch, tsunami Gusau M 30 8 38
SNR
Mustapha Abdulkadir Hbk Academy Gusau,Tudunwada, Zamfara M 44 5 49
FCT
Junior
Henry Ohunene Anastatia, Regina Pacis College, Lakin Garki F 76 15 91
SNR
Aikodon Nosa, Nigeria Turkish International, Wuse 2 M 72 20 92
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