The Federal Government has denied claims that it refused to sponsor 15-year-old Agbo Adoga for a global math competition.
It said no official funding request was received from Graceland International School, Port Harcourt.
The Federal Government has denied claims that it ignored a sponsorship request for Agbo Adoga, a 15-year-old student from Graceland International School, Port Harcourt, who qualified to represent Nigeria at the International Mathematics Olympiad in China.
The controversy began after Alex Onyia, Chief Executive Officer of Educare, alleged on X that the Ministry of Education refused to fund Adoga’s participation, citing lack of funds. Onyia said the student missed the international competition because of the Ministry’s refusal to provide financial support.
He wrote, “Graceland International School, Port Harcourt, just informed me that Agbo Adoga qualified to represent Nigeria in the International Maths Olympiad in China. The Nigerian Ministry of Education said they don’t have money to sponsor anybody. So he will not attend. Nigeria lost again!”
The post quickly gained attention online, with many Nigerians expressing anger and disappointment over what they described as a failure to support young academic talents. Social media users urged the government and private organizations to step in and assist students representing the country internationally.
However, the Federal Ministry of Education, through its spokesperson, Bem Goong Boriowo, said it was not aware of any sponsorship request from Graceland International School.
Boriowo challenged the school to present proof that it wrote to the Ministry seeking financial assistance for Adoga.
She said, “Do they have the document that shows they wrote to our Ministry requesting funds? Because, to the best of my knowledge, we don’t have such records. The Director supervising Mathematics said she’s not aware of any such request. We do not have the document.”
As of the time of this report, the Ministry was said to be preparing an official statement to address the matter.
