UI student awarded overall winner for the Shalina Young Talents Award

A final-year student from the Department of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan, Abiona Damilola Peace, has won the fourth edition of the Shalina Young Students Award. The award ceremony which was held in Lagos at the Radisson Hotel took place on the 21st of March, 2023.

The Shalina Young Student’s Award is an annual nationwide competition held by Shalina Healthcare for final-year pharmacy students in Nigerian universities. Shalina Healthcare was founded by Shiraz Viriji in 1981. The Chief Operating Officer for West Africa Pharmaceutical business operations, Arun Raj, stated in the opening ceremony that the initiative which was currently on its fourth edition is a way to hunt for the best pharmaceutical brains in Nigerian Universities. Mr Raj also promised that all the fourteen participants in the final round would be absorbed into the company after graduation.

Seven Nigerian universities made it to the finals; the University of Ibadan, the University of Lagos, the University of Jos, the University of Uyo, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ahmadu Bello University and University of Nigeria.

The final competition had five rounds which included multiple choice questions, rapid-fire debate and case study. Abiona Peace from the Faculty of Pharmacy emerged as the overall winner and was thereby considered the best pharmacy brain in Nigeria with a total of 90.29 points and won a cash prize of three hundred thousand naira.