By Henry Uche
Uwakwe Johncollins Chikanyima of Sacred Heart Seminary, Rivers State, and Afolabi Adeola Joanne of Bishop Howells Memorial Grammar School, Lagos State, have emerge winners of the 2023 SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition (CDEC) in the junior category and senior category respectively.
The list of the top 100 winners across the two categories was officially unveiled through a live nationwide announcement made on May 29, 2023.
In the junior category, Ifelaja Elliot of Masterhills School, Ogun State, and Onile Jomiloju Ayoade of Eternal Excellency College, Oyo State, won the second and third prizes. At the same time, Madu-Nwaigwe Henry of White of Pearl International School, FCT-Abuja, and Dioha Adaeze Margaret of Grundtvig International Secondary School, Anambra State, came second and third in the senior category, respectively.
In addition, Lagos State emerged as the Winning State among other States across Nigeria that participated in the competition. This award is reserved only for the State with the highest number of public schools in the top 100. The State produced eight (8) out of the twenty-one (21) public schools that came tops in the competition.
The other public schools within the top 100 are spread across various States in Nigeria, including Ekiti State (1), Enugu State (1), Anambra State (2), Cross River State (1), FCT-Abuja (4), Ogun State (3) and Oyo State (1). Some selected public libraries within Lagos State shall be equipped with ten (10) laptops representing the winning prize for this category.
Among the public schools from Lagos that featured in the top 100 are: Local Government Primary School, Ladaba, Epe; State Junior High School, Alimosho; State Senior High School, Oyewole Agege; Command Day Secondary School, Oshodi; Lagos City Senior College, Sabo Yaba; Sito Gbethrome Junior Secondary School, Badagry; Vetland Senior Grammar School, Agege; and Surulere Girls Senior Secondary School, Surulere.
SystemSpecs, the competition organiser and Nigeria’s largest software technology group with over 30 years of operations, is committed to developing indigenous technology capacity through structured Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives like the annual national Children’s Day Essay Competition.
Over 3,000 entries were received from children between the ages 9 and 16 from all the regions of the federation and the FCT, while they shared mind-blowing technology innovations on the topic “Making Nigerian Children Better Citizens Through the Use of Technology”.
The first position winner in each category will get a high-capacity laptop, laptop table, topnotch headphone, smart wristwatch, 120 gigabyte of internet data for one year, a unique keepsake hoodie, a school bag, and more.
In addition, the second and third-place winners in each category would receive a high-capacity laptop, 60 gigabyte of internet data for one year, a branded hoodie, a thermal flask, a school bag, and more.
Group Head, Corporate Services at SystemSpecs, Oluwasegun Adesanya, said the Company’s annual Children’s Day Essay Competition is one of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives aimed at developing indigenous technology capacity.
Adesanya said, “We are amazed by the quality of essays we received from this year’s participants. The entries proffered proven technology solutions that can groom Nigerian children to be better citizens. We have identified the outstanding submissions and will ensure that the relevant stakeholders required to bring these ideas into fruition are carried along.”
Speaking on the evaluation process, one of the judges, Prof. Babatunde Lawal, a senior lecturer at McPherson University, stated that the evaluation process was bias-free as all entries were judged without the identities of the participants and in multiple assessments stages, which led to shortlisting the winners as solely determined by the panel of judges.
“The quality of essays received is a testament that Nigerian children are exceptional, innovative, and forward-thinking in proffering solutions to national issues. It further reveals that many Nigerian children are technologically aware and should be encouraged to explore new inventions to be at par with their counterparts around the globe.
“I commend SystemSpecs for this amazing initiative and believe its outcome will be adopted in policies and national decision-making,” Prof. Lawal added.
The young champs, who stood out amongst thousands of brilliant minds in this Competition, the winning schools, and the winning State shall be celebrated in a national winners’ award ceremony on Friday, June 9, 2023.