Female students of Lagos Schools emerge winners at 2022 ESGN Essay competition

Three female students of Lagos schools recently emerged as the winners of the 2022 Endometriosis Support Group Nigeria (ESGN) annual essay competition held in Lagos.

ESGN Senior Secondary Schools Essay Competition was designed to engage girls and adolescents in the topical issue of endometriosis and its effects on women of childbearing age and female sex, generally.

While Tijani Aisha of Crescent College, Victoria Island, Lagos, emerged as the overall winner, Udom God’s Favour of Prudence City College and Femi Olafuyi from Rainbow College, became the 1st and 2nd Runner-ups, respectively.

More so, Aisha got a trophy and N50, 000 cash prize, while the first runner-up got N30, 000, and the second runner-up, went home with N20, 000 as consolation prizes.

“The need to sensitise teenagers and adolescents in the awareness campaign against endometriosis cannot be overemphasised,” said Obstetrician/Gynaecologist, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, the brain behind the campaign.

He noted that endometriosis is often ignored in teenage girls, adolescents and young women, which the medical expert described as a challenging problem.

“It’s hidden, progressive, severe and deserves a lot more attention than it is currently getting. However, I’m very happy to see young ladies taking interest in endometriosis and partaking in the essay competition.

“When we started, it was tough, and we thought of how to raise awareness among people who were supposed to start this diagnosis. So, we started with the doctors. And again, we said, it’s better to empower women. So, the essay competition came about for these young girls and we continue to sensitize the older women,” he said.

According to Aisha, apart from the information that was made available to them, she was able to study online and through textbooks to get the additional information that earned her the first position.

She said, “I gathered some information and I was able to put something together. I decided not to make it a plain essay; I made it in a narrative format because I had an aunt who suffered from the condition. She was my favourite aunt but she has passed on. She motivated me to be a gynaecologist.

“The essay made me research and know more about this and other things. I discussed the condition with my classmates, who didn’t even know anything about the condition and they learnt.

“I intend to create a social media platform where we can talk about the condition and other conditions that affect women in order to save lives.”

In the same manner, the 1st and 2nd Runner-ups, Udom and Olafuyi, respectively, expressed their delights in the contest, which had earned them cash prizes of N30, 000 and N20, 000 correspondingly.

Speaking further, the Country Manager for Astra Zenica, Mr. Morris Nyarko, congratulated the winners, saying that the competition was a character-building exercise for them. “The world is out there for you to conquer,” he encouraged the winners.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi presented the trophy to Aisha, while Mr. Nyarko presented a draft cheque to Udom, and the Clinic Manager of Nordica Fertility Centre, Mrs. Tola Ajayi presented to Olafuyi, the 2nd Runner up.