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Vanguard, THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2018 — 43
Onitilo Deborah, Ashley Davidson and Master Esigbone Omagbemi emerged first, second and third
respectively in the 15th Mike Okonkwo National Essay competition.
Placing quality above profit is key to standard
— Babatunde
By Oghenefego Obaebor
Chairman,
Governing
Board, Prudence Schools
Yaba, Mr Joseph Babatunde has
urged school owners to focus
more on the academic quality of
students above profit.
Babatunde who was group
chairman of Ag Leventis also
enjoined government to assist
public schools to thrive
academically, adding that our
education standard has not fallen.
According to him, a lot of people
especially governments run
down public schools up to
university level. He said: ‘’I don’t
believe our standard of education
is very low because I have had
children that went to schools in
this country who did well and
went abroad and still did well.
‘’So when they say our
standards are low, I don’t buy that.
‘’Everything you do requires
improvement. ‘’Let the
By Dayo Adesulu
Winner has emerged in
Prodigy Series contest
organised by OVH Energy
Limited.
Mr Solomon Tolulope
Oyakhire, 23 was declared
winner of the Prodigy Series
writing competition themed “So
You Think You Can Write” held at
its Apapa Office in Lagos.
Oyakhire who is a first class
graduate of Chemical
Engineering from the University
of Lagos beat over a thousand
contestants to emerge the overall
best at the second edition of the
writing competition. With this
feat, he walked home with
N500,000 as reward for his
brilliancy.
A visibly excited Tolulope
Oyakhire who is set to pursue his
PhD studies in Chemical
Engineering at Stanford
University this September as a
Knight-Hennessy scholar said:
“Producing a well-crafted work of
writing requires a lot of
intellectual and mental exertion.
‘’But the feeling is exhilarating if
government improve their
schools, encourage private sector
to improve their own schools. If
we help our children, they will
do well.’’
He posited that school’s success
was hinged on the personal
attention to pupils and the
emphasis on quality above profit.’’
He gave this charge at the
Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja,
Lagos during the school’s
celebration of its SS3 pupils who
cleared all their papers in the
2018 West African Senior School
Certificate Examination
(WASSCE).
Babatunde who lauded the
school on quality, noted that the
school has neither compromised
on standard nor cut corners.
While explaining reasons the
school has had very good results
in the primary school in the last
ten years and the five year old
college recording 100 percent
pass in WAEC, he said: ‘’The
school offers an exclusive type
of education of one teacher to
one student.’’
His words: ‘’We don’t cut
corners here and that has been
what we emphasise to our
parents. With my experience in
the private sector, if you are not
in a hurry to make money, you
will not cut corners. ‘’Last year
we presented nine children for
WAEC. We were approached by
other schools who wanted to join
our children to sit for the
examination but we turned them
down because we cannot
guarantee the type of education
that the children have received
in their schools.’’
On his part, the Aro of
Egbaland,Chief Oluyinka Kufile
who also chaired the occasion
urged parents not to give up on
Nigeria but train their children
to believe in the country and
work towards its development.
Winner emerges in OVH Energy Prodigy
Series contest
you get rewarded for it, and that
is the point I am at right now. ‘’I
feel profoundly honoured to have
been nominated and announced
as the winner of this writing
competition. ‘’I want to express
my sincere appreciation to OVH
Energy, the organisers of this
noble initiative for creating this
platform to reward creativity and
skill; I feel greatly honoured
indeed. ‘’I encourage other
young minds like mine to take
advantage of every opportunity
to improve their creative writing
skills by reading a wide range of
materials which will contribute
significantly to their intellectual
capacity to engage in such
contests in the future.”
Besides, Oyakhire who was
rewarded with N500,000 , OVH
Energy also rewarded the first
and the second runners-up in the
writing competition with N200,
000 and N100, 000 cash prizes
respectively.
Speaking at the event, the Chief
Executive Officer, OVH Energy
Marketing Limited, Mr. Huub
Stokman said: “The winner
represents the very best and
brightest among the contenders.
His essay explores contemporary
themes with maturity,
intelligence, and depth. ‘’We are
proud of him and the thousands
of other young writers who
entered the competition this year
from all around the Country.
‘’The prodigy series expresses
our vision of empowerment
through education, and we are
excited to be conducting this
creative writing competition once
again. ‘’The quality of the entries
this year was exceptional, and
all of us at OVH Energy would
like to extend our congratulations
to the winners”.
“As a business, this writing
competition is one of the features
of our thought leadership
programme, which aims to
promote learning and creative
writing opportunities for young
people”, therefore, the objective
for us is two-pronged – to stir
creative minds towards
developing and enhancing their
constructive and cognitive
thinking skills.''
Females in 3
years win Mike
Okonkwo Essay
contest
By Dayo Adesulu
Miss Onitilo Deborah of
New Chrisfield College,
Ikorodu, Lagos has been
announced the overall winner
of the 2018 Mike Okonkwo
National Essay Competition
for Secondary School
students in Nigeria. Having
scored 63% in the first round
of the competition and 52%
in the second round of the
competition to come first.
In three consecutive years,
female students have consistently
emerged the best in the Mike
Okonkwo national essay
competition.
In 2017, two female students
emerged first and second in the
14th Mike Okonkwo National
Essay competition. While Miss
Alexandra Nwigwe of Vivian
Fowler Memorial College Lagos,
emerged the overall best, scoring
90 per cent in the first round of
the competition and 80 per cent
in the second round, Miss
Jesudunta Mercy Ipinmoye of
Corona Secondary School
Agbara, came second scoring 80
per cent in the first round and 72
per cent in the second round.
Also, in 2016,
Miss Fadilah
Saliu-Ahmed,
17, a student of
Zamani College
clenched the
first position out
of the 846
students that
entered for the
competition.
Where are the
male students in
good essay
writing?
In 2018, while
the first position
went for Miss
Onitilo Deborah,
incidentally
again the second
position went to Miss Ashley
Davidson of Vivian Fowler
Memorial College for Girls, Ikeja.
She scored 62% in the first round
and 49% in the second round to
emerged second.
However, Master Esigbone
Omagbemi Ferdinand of
Roshallom International
Secondary School, Lagos came
third. As he scored 60% in the first
round and 47% in the second
round. The forth position was
Miss Fagbemi Semilore Ireoluwa
of Roshallom International
School, Lagos.
Meanwhile the Chief Examiner,
Professor Akachi Ezeigbo while
speaking in this regard said:
‘’After a painstaking scrutiny, we
adjudged only four as suitable for
invitation to the second stage of
the competition, which is basically
a confirmatory procedure to verify
*Miss Onitilo Deborah
For coming tops
in this year’s
competition,
Miss Onitilo
Deborah of New
Chrisfield
College, Ikorodu
Lagos will get a
cheque of
N100,000, a
personal Laptop,
a trophy, a
plaque
the integrity of the original
submission. The content and
structure of the four entries, we
must say, are just sufficient to
enable the candidates to score
grades within the ‘B’ range. The
implication of this is that the
verve, creativity and imagination
that we have seen in past
performances are beginning to
whittle down, even though
enthusiasm to take part continues
to rise”.
For coming tops in this year’s
competition, Miss Onitilo
Deborah of New Chrisfield
College, Ikorodu Lagos will get
a cheque of N100,000, a personal
Laptop, a trophy, a plaque, while
the school gets three sets of
Computer and a printer. Miss
Ashley Davidson
of Vivian Fowler
Memorial
College for Girls,
Ikeja, Lagos who
came second will
go home with a
cheque of
N75,000, a
plaque and the
school will get two
sets of computer
and a printer. For
emerging the
third position in
this year’s
competition,
M a s t e r
EsigboneOmagbemi
Ferdinand of
Roshallom
International Secondary School,
Lagos will go home with a cheque
of N50,000, a plaque and the
school gets a Computer set. The
other winner will get a
consolation price of N20,000.
The prices for the winners of
the 15 th Mike Okonkwo National
Essay Competition for Secondary
Schools in the country will be
presented at this year’s Mike
Okonkwo Annual Lecture, at the
Shell Hall Muson Center,
Onikan, Lagos, on
WednesdaySeptember 5, 2018.
The theme for this year’s lecture
is “Nigeria’s Unity: Matters
Arising”. The Lecture will be
chaired by Chief John
NniaNwodo, President General,
OhanaezeNdi-Igbo World-wide
while the lecture will be delivered
by Barrister Femi Falana (SAN).