By Gabriel Dike
Fourteen-year-old Alexandra Nwigwe of Vivian Fowler Memorial College, Lagos, has emerged the winner of the 2017 Mike Okonkwo Essay Competition and went home with plenty prizes.
The smart kid defeated nine other pupils from different schools in the country to emerge the winner in the 14th edition of the essay competition titled: ‘’Made in Nigeria Goods: Vehicle for National Development.”
Alexandra, who was the centre of attraction at the 18th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, won a cash prize of N100, 000, a plaque while his school got three sets of Laptops and printers. She obtained 90 per cent in the first round and 80 per cent in the second round of the competition.
The second spot went to Jesuduntan Mercy of Corna Secondary School, who got N75, 000 cash prize, a plaque, two sets of desktop computer and a printer. In the essay first round, she scored 80 per cent and 72 per cent in the second round.
The third prize was won by Akingbade Gbenga of Emerald High School, he got a prize of N50, 000, a plaque and one desktop computer. In the first round of the competition, he scored 80 per cent and second round obtained 70 per cent.
Six others from different schools who placed 4th to 9th received consolation prizes of N20,000 and a plaque for their efforts.
The chief examiner, Prof Hope Eghagha, in his report, said 796 entries were received for the 2017 competition and noted that organizers used internal control mechanism to ensure that only qualified pupils that applied got to the judges for assessment.
According to him, in the first round, the pupils were judged on mechanical accuracy, use of language, originality of thought, and thematic focus and ten participants were selected and invited form second round.
Prof. Eghagha disclosed that one candidate from Benue State could not make the trip while others came from different parts of the country such as Lagos, Enugu, Akure, Ilorin, Kano and Owerri.
The Head of Department of English, University of Lagos, said the nine contestants did one hour test on ‘’Religion and National Development’’ or Does Religion Aid National Development? He stated that the final result of the test validated the scoring and ranking of the pupils in the first stage.
He said the scores of the best three candidates show that there is originality in their works and commended Alexandra Nwigwe for emerging the winner.