Osinbajo Hails Nigerian Teenage Girls For Winning World Innovation Challenge

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has congratulated Nigerian teenage girls for winning the 2018 Technovation World Pitch in California, the United States.

The young girls were accorded the honour after building a mobile application to tackle the problems of fake pharmaceutical products in Nigeria.

The team, Save A Soul, worked on the ‘FD-Detector’ (Fake Drug Detector).

A ceremony held on Thursday night at Silicon Valley in California, saw the girls beat five other countries – China, Spain, Turkey, United States, and Uzbekistan – to win the challenge.

According to them, the FD-Detector “helps identify fake pharmaceutical drugs in Nigeria. The app leverages a drug’s barcode to verify its authenticity and expiration date. Save A Soul will also partner with NAFDAC (National Agency for Food & Drug Administration and Control), an agency responsible for regulating drugs in Nigeria.”

Osinbajo applauded the teenagers via his official Twitter handle on Friday.

“These young ladies in Junior Secondary School developed a mobile application called FD Detector to tackle the problems of fake pharmaceutical products in Nigeria. Congratulations! We are very proud of you,” the Acting President wrote.

These young ladies in Junior Secondary School, developed a mobile application called 'FD Detector' to tackle the problems of fake pharmaceutical products in Nigeria.

Yesterday, they won the 2018 Technovation World Pitch in California.

Congratulations! We are very proud of you. pic.twitter.com/SFFVvP88JB

— Prof Yemi Osinbajo (@ProfOsinbajo) August 10, 2018

The World Pitch event, which took place from August 6-10 in San Jose, California, is the final event following more than seven months of hard work, innovation, and problem solving by more than 19,000 girls in 115 countries.

While only 12 teams advanced to the finals, the passion, creativity, and grit of girls participating around the world to change their local communities makes them all winners.