The highly contested Abia State Schools Quiz Competition has finally come to an end with Mayfair Academy, Umuahia grabbing the coveted grand prize of one million Naira as the overall winner.
The just concluded competition also had Ovom Girls’ High School Aba emerge the first runner-up with a five hundred thousand Naira prize while the second runner-up, Holy Brilliant Academy, Alayi – Bende smiled home with a whopping two hundred and fifty thousand Naira.
The quiz competition was organized by the Abia State Ministry of Education in conjunction with Ray Nkemdirim Foundation for public and private secondary schools in the State.
Presenting the prizes to the participants at the grand finale of the competition which took place on Thursday at the International Conference Centre, Ogurube Layout, Umuahia, the State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, congratulated the champions and other participants on their performances.
The Governor, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Chris Ezem encouraged students to always study hard so as to have impressive performances in their academics.
Barr. Ezem assured that the State desires to maintain a lead in WAEC exams and education generally, emphasising that hardwork is the key determinant of academic excellence.
Governor Ikpeazu, advised parents and teachers to monitor their children and students to ensure they excell in academics and decried the undue attention given to cell phones other than education.
He thanked Chief Raymond Nkemdirim and his foundation for putting up the competition and assured him that government would continue to partner him in building youths that would make a better society.
In his speech, the sponsor of the competition and founder Raymond Nkemdirim Foundation, Chief Ray Nkemdirim said the essence of the competition is to bring to fore the importance of education as well as give back to the society as formal education means all to him.
He informed that it is his desire to impact on commitment and hardwork and announced that the competition would be an annual event.
Chief Nkemdirim thanked Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for the seriousness attached to education and the kind of support he received from his government, saying that it would spur him to do more. He described the day as a day of joy and appreciated all that contributed to the success of the event
Earlier the Chairman of the event, Mr. Kenechukwu Nwosu thanked the State Governor for creating enabling environment for schools to run and appreciated Chief Raymond Nkemdirim for initiating the competition to develop talents. He stated that the best way of developing the children is through such competition and urged students to sustain their interest in education.
The Coordinator, Ray Nkemdirim Foundation, Uche Ama-Ohakah saluted the partnering agents for their contributions disclosed that a total of 254 schools participated in the competition at the Local Government Area and Zonal levels before the finslists from each of the three Education Zones of the State. He said the schools that participated cut across public and private schools and prayed God to continue to bless Abia with people like Chief Raymond Nkemdirim who would support government to develop education.
In a vote of thanks, the Permanent Secretary, Abia State Ministry of Education, Mr. Prince Eze Ajuzie, said the competition is a prove of the claims of Abia State government on leading in education. He commended Chief Raymond Nkemdirim for the initiative and assured that the government would sustain the partnership.
In a goodwill message, the representative of the Vice Chancellor of ABSU, Prof. Udo Nwokocha congratulated Ray Nkemdirim, for ensuring the students are given the opportunity to excel and stressed on the need to give high premium to learning.
He thanked the State government for their education friendly posture and prayed God to bless him while urging him to make the competition continue next year.
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