SystemSpecs, Africa’s leading financial, human capital management, and e-commerce technology giant, the owner of Remita, HumanManager, and Paylink, has presented prizes to winners of the 30th anniversary edition of its annual Children’s Day Essay Competition at a hybrid ceremony which held recently.
Top winners, all of whom were present or represented at the venue of the event in Lagos, were presented with gifts that included tens of high-capacity laptops, top-notch headphones, free 3-month uLesson coding courses, 480-gigabyte internet data for one year, branded travel suite cases, unique keepsake hoodies, thermal flasks, school bags, among many others.
Some of the honourees are 11-year-old Oluwaseun Samuel Temitayo-Ojo of Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, and 15-year-old Ekemini Keziah Effiong-Robert of The African Church Model College, Agege, Lagos who emerged winners in the junior and senior categories respectively. Both emerged ahead of about 2,000 entrants from both private and public primary and secondary schools across the country.
Also among the top 3 in each category are 10-year-old Somadina Edeh of Independence Layout Nursery and Primary School, Enugu State and Chetachi Best Mbalu from Lagooz School, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos State, who emerged first runner-up in the junior and senior categories respectively; and 12-year-old Emmanuel Nkanu Nkanu of St Anne High School, Calabar, Cross River and 13-year-old David Nkereuwem of Holy Mary Comprehensive College, Benin City, Edo state emerged second runners-up in the junior and senior categories respectively.
Others who made the top 15 Honour Roll in each category of the competition will also receive consolatory prizes to encourage them to remain innovative.
The African Church Model College, Ifako Agege, Lagos and Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, that produced winning entries in the senior and junior categories, respectively, received 20 and 10 high-capacity laptops per school.
“When they broke the news that I had won the competition to me, I could not contain my excitement. I am delighted that I won and believe it will birth even more significant achievements for me,” said Ekemini Keziah Effiong-Robert, the first-prize winner in the senior category.
For Oluwaseun Samuel Temitayo-Ojo who was the champion in the junior category, it was a dream come true. “I am happy I won. I have always looked forward to such a glorious time as this. I want to thank my teachers and my parents for their support,” he said.
Speaking on the feat of the champion from her school, Shade Oluyinka Erinle, principal of The African Church Model College, Ifako Agege, Lagos, expressed her excitement. “She has made us all proud,” she said, adding that the computers her school won would indeed add immense value to the school’s brand promise of delivering qualitative education.
“On this special day, we crowned the champions of this year’s SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition and the schools that produced them in recognition of the need to emphatically celebrate young talents that emerge from Nigeria who have the potential to transform our world.
“Not only have these young ones proffered solutions to some of Nigeria’s nagging challenges in the educational sector, but they also can champion the vision of a new and truly thriving country we all will be proud of,” said Oluwsegun Adesanya, Group Head, Corporate Services.
“With the ambience of the occasion and the tangible excitement of the winning participants, other students, teachers, principals, parents and other well-wishers, we are once again reinvigorated to continue to impart the lives of Nigerians, young and old, irrespective of their location,” he added.
The annual SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition is part of SystemSpecs’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment towards advancing capacity development in Nigeria, with a specific focus on creating opportunities for young people across Nigeria to share fresh, bright, and original ideas capable of transforming our country for good.
Juliet Damilola