Girls show class at Okonkwo national essay competition

Girl-child rights campaigners would have something to cheer about when winners of the 13th Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition for Secondary School Students file out for their prizes. Reason: The top three finishers are girls, and only two of the seven finalists are boys.

The winner of the contest, Miss. Fadilah Saliu-Ahmed of Zamani College, Kaduna State, did so well that the chief examiner, Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo, in her remarks said she wrote with tact in a natural and effortless way, adding that her expressive ability and the application of necessary grammatically disposition, made her the first prize winner for this year’s competition.

She scored 75 per cent in the first round of the competition and maintained the same grade to lead in the second round.Miss. Barakat Adebayo, of Roshallom International School Egbeda, Lagos, State settled for the second position, while the third position went to Miss. Wuraola Adeoye, of Fountain Height Secondary School, Lagos.

Other winners are Miss. Oluchi Onyenso, of Corona Secondary School, Agbara, Ogun State, who finished fourth, Moradeyo Olaitan of Fountain Height Secondary School, Lagos, finished in fifth place, while the sixth and seventh positions went to Nathaniel Brown of Ritman College, Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State and Master Ibe Solomon of Township Comprehensive Secondary School, Amaifeke Imo State respectively.

According to the chief examiners’ report, a total of 846 entries were received for this year’s edition of the competition. “The organisers introduced a filtering procedure and quality enhancement mechanisms, which ensured that only good and judgeable essays got to the judges for assessment. The competition has become immensely popular, and the formation of an alumni association is becoming an increasing possibility. This year, incidences of copying, collaboration and plagiarisms that regularly characterised the exercise in preceding years have reduced significantly.”

The winner will get a cheque of N100, 000, a laptop computer set, and a plaque, while the school gets three sets of computer and a printer. The second and third place contestants will get N75, 000, and N50, 000 respectively, alongside plaques and computer sets for their schools.

The prizes will be presented at this year’s Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, at the Shell Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, on Thursday September 1, 2016. The theme for this year’s lecture is “The State of The Nigeria Nation: Redefining Our Values”The essay competition was initiated in 2004, as part of activities to celebrate the Birthday of the Presiding Bishop of TREM, Dr. Mike Okonkwo.and more importantly to contribute to the development of the Educational Sector.