A Nigerian speller has distinguished himself as the best speller in Africa after emerging the Champion in the African Spelling Bee 2017.

Sheriff Muhammad who was part of the team of spellers representing Nigeria at the African Spelling Bee 2017 held at the Cradle of Humankind, Maropeng, South Africa spelt his way through to the 7th Round of the contest.

He was followed by another Nigerian, Benebo Nchege in a Joint second position with Zameer Dada of South Africa.

As part of prizes won in the competition is a full scholarship to Monash South Africa worth $20,000. Monash South Africa is ranked among the best 100 universities in the world. Other prizes include promotional items sponsored by MTN, Makro and Planet Fitness.

Both Sheriff and Benebo competed in the Nigeria Spelling Bee and excelled in their states and regional competition and went on to be National Finalists. Benebo clinched the title of National Champion and won N1m scholarship in the national finals held at Nile University, Abuja on July 1.

The African Spelling Bee championship tested the spellers on indigenous languages spoken in Africa as the Round 1 (non-elimination). After which, other rounds followed such as the words from the pre-scribed reading materials. These included “I am an African” by Thabo Mbeki, “Kingdom of Mapungubwe” and the “Constitutive Act of the African Union.”

Round 3 was made of words taken from the speller’s visits to Maropeng and Sterkfontien Caves heritage sites. These words were “fossil fuelled.”

Other rounds included the English words from African origin, names of African cities, loan words and names of cities around the world.

The next African Spelling Bee is slated to hold in Mombasa Kenya in 2018. Participation at the next championship is upon qualifying at the national finals of the Nigeria Spelling Bee after participating in both state and regional events.

The Nigerian organizers advised schools to register their spellers early and start preparations towards the next state qualifier as scheduled on the calendar at www.nigeriaspellingbee.com/calendar