Fadilah Saliu-Ahmed, Muslim student, emerges winner, 13th Mike Okonkwo essay contest
Miss Fadilah Saliu-Ahmed of Zamani College, Kaduna, has been announced as the winner of the 13th Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition for Secondary School Students.
According to Prof. T. A. Ezeigbo, the Chief Examiner of the competition, she scored 75% in the first round of the competition and maintained the same grade to lead in the second round.
“Miss. Saliu-Ahmed wrote with tact in a natural and effortless way,” she said. “Her expressive ability and the application of necessary grammatical disposition, made her the first prize-winner for this year’s competition.” The second position went to Miss. Barakat Adebayo of Roshallom International School Egbeda, Lagos, while Miss. Wuraola Adeoye of Fountain Height Secondary School, Lagos, clinched the third position.
Other winners are: Miss. Oluchi Onyenso of Corona Secondary School, Agbara, fourth; Moradeyo Olaitan of Fountain Height Secondary School, Lagos, fifth. The sixth and seventh positions went, respectively, to Nathaniel Brown of Ritman College Ikot Epkene, Akwa-Ibom State and Master Ibe Solomon of Township Comprehensive Secondary School, Amaifeke, in Imo state.
The Chief Examiner’s report with The Sun Education shows that a total of eight hundred and forty-six (846) entries were received for the 13th 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,” Prof. Ezeigbo noted in the report. “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.”
Explaining how the winners emerged, she observed that in the first round of the competition, “we adjudged seven contestants as suitable to proceed to the one-hour written test intended to confirm the integrity of their submissions. This test usually takes place in the premises of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) Headquarters, and the contestants are able to meet face-to-face and have time, albeit a short one, to forge new friendships. Our topic for the second round was ‘Adopting and Practising Tolerance as a Core Value in Nigeria.’ It is closely related to the overall theme of the year, but more specific in its requirements and approach. Unlike in previous years, all the contestants invited to the second round made it to TREM Headquarters. At the end of the exercise, variations in their first and second submissions were not as extensive as used to be the case in some competition some years ago.”
A press statement signed by Rev. (Mrs) Oluwayomi Uteh, Group Manager, Operations, TREM International, indicates that, for coming top in this year’s competition, Fadilah Saliu-Ahmed will get a cheque of N100, 000, a laptop, a plaque, while her school gets three sets of computer and a printer. Barakat Adebayo of Roshallom International School, in Lagos State who came second will go home with a cheque of N75,000, a plaque while her school gets two sets of computer and a printer. For emerging third, Wuraola Adeoye of Fountain Height Secondary School, Lagos will go home with a cheque of N50,000, a plaque while her school gets a computer set. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh candidates will get a consolation prize of N20, 000 each.
One other interesting fact that emerged from this year’s competition is that, unlike in the previous years, the first, second and third winners are all girls, showing that women are coming. The prizes will be presented at this year’s Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, scheduled to hold at the Shell Hall Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, on Thursday September 1, 2016. The theme for the lecture is: “The State of The Nigeria Nation: Redefining Our Values.”