Temitayo-Ojo, Effiong-Robert emerge winners of essay competition

Oluwaseun Temitayo-Ojo of Igbobi College, Yaba and Ekemini Effiong-Robert of The African Church Model College, Ifako Agege, in Lagos, have emerged overall winners of this year’s Children’s Day essay competition, organised by financial, human capital management and e-commerce technology firm, SystemSpecs.

Temitayo-Ojo, won in the junior category, while Effiong-Robert, emerged winner in the senior category.

Also, among the top three in each category are 10-year-old Somadina Edeh of Independence Layout Nursery and Primary School, Enugu State and Chetachi Best Mbalu from Lagooz School, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos State, who emerged second in the junior and senior categories respectively.

12-year-old Emmanuel Nkanu Nkanu of St. Anne High School, Calabar, Cross River and 13-year-old David Nkereuwem of Holy Mary Comprehensive College, Benin City, Edo State, also emerged third in the junior and senior categories respectively.

Making the presentations, Managing Director, SystemSpecs, John Obaro, said the yearly competition, which coincided with the firm’s 30th anniversary as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment towards advancing capacity development in Nigeria, with a specific focus on creating opportunities for young people to share fresh, bright and original ideas capable of transforming the country for good.

He said the move was to empower the children for the future, through technology enhancement.

“When people are educated, they become confident, creative and not being intimidated. That is the way to empower them for the future. The number of out-of-school children in Nigeria today is so frightening.

We thought of the little we could do is to take an interest in education, especially with technology. Looking at education and technology empower people for the future. We see it as an area of focus for us to create a pipeline,” he said.

The elated winners commended the organisation for giving them the opportunity to showcase their talents.

Temitayo-Ojo said: “I am happy I won. Winning ahead of thousands of other entrants from over 750 schools across Nigeria was a dream come true for me.

I have always looked forward to such a glorious time as this. I want to thank my teachers and parents for their support,” he said.

Effiong-Robert said: “When they broke the news that I had won the competition to me, I could not contain my excitement. I am delighted and believe it will bring more significant achievements for me.”

Other winners were presented with gifts that included laptops, headphones, free three-month uLesson coding courses, 480-gigabyte Internet data for a year, branded travel suitcases, unique keepsake hoodies, thermal flasks and school bags, among others.

Group Head, Corporate Services, SystemSpecs, Oluwasegun Adesanya, said: “We crowned the champions of this year’s SystemSpecs Children’s Day essay competition and schools that produced them in recognition of the need to celebrate young talents that emerge from Nigeria, who have the potential to transform our world.

“Not only have these young ones proffered solutions to some of Nigeria’s nagging challenges in the educational sector, but they also can champion the vision of a new and truly thriving country,” said.