A 16-year-old Akachukwu Anumudu of Apostolic Faith Secondary School, Anthony, Lagos, on Saturday, emerged winner of the first edition of the InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition held in Lagos.
He beat eight other contestants in an intense quiz session to win the grand prize of N7.5 million worth of tertiary education scholarship spread over five years, a laptop and a monthly stipend during the course of the scholarship.
The first runner-up was 16-year-old Henry Umunna of the Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja.
Umunna won N4 million worth of scholarship spread over three years; while the second runner-up, 16-year-old Onyedikachi Kanu from Dority International School, Aba, got N1 million worth of scholarship for one year.
Akachukwu came tops after advancing through various levels of the competition. Expressing his gratitude, Akachukwu said he never expected to make it this far, adding that competitions like this would help in discovering brighter young stars in Nigeria.
He said: “Whenever I see people win at competitions, I always wondered if I could ever be that lucky. But, now, I know it is beyond luck, and I’m glad all my sleepless nights and hard work paid off. I’m very grateful to Interswitch because it made me who I am today. Before now, I was very shy and reserved, but my whole experience at the InterswitchSPAK1.0 has helped build my confidence and prepared me for the future.”