THIS year’s edition of Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition among senior secondary school students across the country has begun.
The annual competition with this year’s edition being 17th in the series has been organised to mark the birthday anniversary of the presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Dr Mike Okonkwo, and as a way of contributing to the development of the education sector and the economy by extension.
And just like the previous editions, the competition is voluntary and free of charge to willing students from any government approved secondary schools nationwide.
Announcing the commencement in a statement made available to journalists In Lagos, the Corporate Services Director of TREM, Rev. (Mrs) Oluwayomi Uteh, said all is set to start receiving entries from participants who are to write an essay on the theme “Nigeria, a country at war against itself: The problems, the solutions and the way forward.”
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She said in addition to cash prizes of N100, 000; N75, 000, and N50, 000 for the first, second, and third prize winners, the first prize winner would also go home with a laptop and a plaque while his or her school would get three sets of personal computers.
The second prize winner, she added, would get a plaque and his or her school would receive two sets of personal computers while only the school of the third prize winner would get one personal computer.
Mrs Uteh explained that “the competition is one of the Corporate Social Responsibility activities of Bishop Mike Okonkwo and that it has over the years become a platform for the senior high school students to demonstrate their knowledge of societal issues in the country, sharpen their writing and thinking skills and consequently lifting the education sector.”
She stated that the competition with an independent panel of jurists to assess entries would be in three stages with the top three winners to be announced and rewarded with their prizes at the 21st Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture to mark the 77th birthday anniversary of Bishop Okonkwo in September, in Lagos.
and then