By Esosa Omorogbe
Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, has been named the winner of the 2025 United Nations‑sponsored Dry‑Lab Competition, a contest that evaluates international laboratories’ ability to detect and analyse viral pathogens using data generated by advanced DNA‑sequencing techniques.
The award was presented to the university’s Vice‑Chancellor by the team’s spokesperson, Faith Huemomen Unuabonah, a lecturer in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science (Hematology and Blood Transfusion Science). She explained that this year’s competition – the fourth in the series since its inception in 2021 – was organised under the United Nations Secretary‑General’s Mechanism (UNSGM), a framework established to investigate allegations involving the use of chemical, biological and toxin weapons.
According to Unuabonah, the Fourth External Quality Assessment Exercise (EQAE‑4), held from 15 April to 27 May 2024, focused on the identification and characterisation of arenaviruses using modern DNA‑sequencing technologies. She added that 119 laboratories worldwide enrolled for EQAE‑4, and 90 laboratories from 40 countries successfully participated and submitted results. The participants represented several regions:
- Africa (7 laboratories)
- Asia (13 laboratories, including China)
- Europe (49 laboratories)
- North America (6 laboratories)
- Oceania (6 laboratories)
- Latin America (10 laboratories)
“Team Nigeria, comprising Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, and Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, achieved a 100 % success rate, emerging as the overall best‑performing team in the global competition,” she said.
In response, the Vice‑Chancellor of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Professor Mrs. Eunice Omonzejie, commended Team Nigeria for representing both the nation and the university with excellence.
“We are proud of you and your team for this outstanding achievement. Your contribution to academic advancement and the repositioning of our institution is highly commendable,” she said.
The Vice‑Chancellor further announced that the university would, going forward, institute a formal reward system for staff and students who excel in competitions or bring recognition and honour to the institution.
“Let it be known to all that, with immediate effect, Ambrose Alli University will begin to recognise and reward excellence – be it academic, professional or otherwise – among staff and students whose actions bring accolades to the university,” she affirmed.
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