Two Nigerian female scientists have bagged the UNESCO-L’Oreal “Women in Science Partnership’’ award for their contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the country.
Professor Francisca Okeke, the first female Head of Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka bagged the 2013 Laureate award for her significant contributions “to the understanding of daily variations of the ion currents in the upper atmosphere which may further our understanding of climate change.”
She was the only recipient in that category from Africa and the Arab nations and the third Nigerian Laureate since the UNESCO-L’Oreal partnership was established in 1998.
Four others also got awards in the Laureate category with each representing Europe, Latin America, North America and the Asia Pacific regions.
The second Nigerian award recipient, Dr Eucharia Nwaichi, an environmental bio-chemist from the University of Port Harcourt, joined 15 other young scientists in the “International Fellows’’ category. Dr. Nwaichi who is a Lecturer and Postdoctoral researcher, was recognised for her research on “scientific solution to environmental pollution,’ stressed the need for increased motivation to support women in the field.
The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is threatened with severe pollution from petroleum and other industrial contamination that leaves precious agricultural land unfit for use. Highly toxic chemicals risk entering the food chain with subsequent catastrophic effects on human health.
Eucharia Nwaichi will study the potential use of living plants in providing a viable solution to this problem. Plants can rid the soil of pollutants either by transforming them into less harmful substances or by binding them inside their own tissues. Eucharia will assess the suitability of two local plant species for cleaning up polluted land in the Niger Delta so that it can be used for much-needed food crops.
The awardees were recognised in the “Laureates and fellows’’ categories in Paris.
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