Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada, has restated his commitment to giving quality education to citizens of the state.
He made this known at the grand finale of the yearly Governor Wada Academic Excellence Competition (G-WAEC) held at the government house in Lokoja.
G-WAEC is an essay, quiz, spelling and debate competition among students across the local government areas of the state. The maiden edition featured essay competition for undergraduates from the state while the quiz competition was held for public secondary school pupils.
The winner of the essay competition, Olajide Oluwafunmilayo Elizabeth, a final year Law student of Kogi State University, Anyigba, went home with a trophy and cash prize gift of N200, 000. The runners up Chapi Onuche Victor and Enemali Theophilus received of N150, 000 and N100, 000 each.
In the secondary category, Pedro Okpara from St. Kizito, Idah won the quiz competition. He went home with a cash prize of N150, 000.
All the winners, in addition to the cash prizes, also received various educational support items, including customised laptop computers pre-installed with educational software applications.
Speaking at the end of the keenly contested competition, the governor said: “I am highly impressed by the performance of the students in this competition. It shows that our efforts in transforming the education sector are yielding the desired results.
“This administration places priority on education because we know its value in the lives of the people. We would not rest on our oars and would continue to make sure that the citizens of the state enjoy sound and quality education.”
Executive director Mides Global Associates and organiser of the competition, Mr Michael Onoja, said the competition was aimed at promoting academic excellence in the state.
“I am delighted by the performance of the students in this competition. They have justified the investment of the governor in the sector. The competition is aimed at promoting academic excellence by encouraging students in the state to take their studies seriously. This helps to take their minds and attention away from unholy and anti-social activities because they have been very busy preparing for the competition. Those that lost are preparing harder to win it the next time it takes place while those that won would want to make sure that they retain the trophy. It is a win-win thing for the students, the schools and the state at the end of the day,” he said.
