Readmanna Empower Initiative, in partnership with Zenith Bank Plc, last week rewarded 18 secondary school pupils and university students, who excelled in the 2018 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (MOSWC) with cash and gift prizes at the City Hall, Lagos Island.
The winners had the highest scores in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel 2013 and 2016 versions from about 950 entries received from 27 schools and two universities in six states of the federation.
The top three in each category were rewarded with between N20,000 and N50,000, as well as sponsorship to the world championship, which held in Orlando, Florida in July (for the first in each category only).
Zenith Bank Plc Group Managing Director, Mr Peter Amangbo, who was represented by Mrs. Adobi Nwapa, said the bank was proud to partner on the project, which sought to enhance Information Communication Technology (ICT) education for after school career growth of Nigerian youths.
He said: “Zenith Bank is proud to be a partner in this laudable project that is designed to provide the students with computing expertise that they need now and after they graduate. As a bank, we are committed to youth empowerment, which is at the core of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“The partnership between Zenith and ReadManna produced world winners in various categories in the past: Olubunmi Agusto, Day Waterman College, Abeokuta, Ogun State, second Place in Word 2007 and First African Champion (2014); Atafo Abure, Childville School, Ogudu, Lagos, Lagos State, 10th Place in Excel 2010 (2015); Katherine Eta, Childville School, Ogudu, Lagos, Lagos State, 10th Place in PowerPoint 2013 (2016); Katherine Eta, Childville School, Ogudu, Lagos, Lagos State, third Place in Word 2016 (2017).
“All these students have done Nigeria proud at the global stage and encouraged the bank to enlarge its sponsorship to give opportunity to other students outside Lagos and help the growth of ICT education in Nigerian schools.”
Chibuzo Iyke Osuji of Faith Academy Otta, placed eighth in the world in the Microsoft Power Point 2016 category – the best result among the Nigerian contingent to the competition this year.
He won N50,000 for scoring 980/1,000 on the national stage in 19 minutes and 29 seconds. But had he also won one of the top three slots in Orlando, he would have received N1.5 million (N750,000 from Readmanna and N750,000 from Zenith Bank) in addition to the international prize of between $1,500 and $7,000.
Readmanna CEO, Mrs Edna Agusto, in her remarks, challenged the pupils from various schools in attendance to try harder next year to win, not only nationally but on the global stage.
“If you win at the World Championship, you go away with N5million – N750,000 from Zenith, N750,000k from Readmanna, plus Certiport dollar prize. We are talking serious money here so you need to work hard. The competition nationally was very stiff this year. The top seven pupils got the maximum score of 1,000 points. What differentiated who won was their timing,” she said.
Speaking on the benefits of the competition to schools, she said: “We encourage schools to embrace this competition as it enables schools to evaluate their ICT curriculum. It is aligned to school curriculum and international standards. Schools whose students take part in this competition often come out with excellent ICT results during examination periods. Readmanna run courses on vocational development for teachers.”
Pupils of Aduvie International School, Abuja won six of the awards on offer – carting away the three prizes for the Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 category (Usman Abdulllah, Zeluilo Cue-Eze, and Sinikem Azaiki); two in the Microsoft Word 2013 category (Samnatho Isichei (first) and Zal Cue-Eze – third) and one in the Microsoft Excel 2013 category (Zal Cue-Eze).
Thomas Adewunmi International College, Oko, Kwara State, had two winners (Belgore Mohammed – second, Microsoft Excel 2013; and Theodora Udounwa, Word 2016); same as Faith Academy, (Victor Iyke Osuji, first, PowerPoint 2016 and Arinzechukwu Mbah, second, PowerPoint 2016). Jemeni Emmanuel of Bellina College, Akoka, came second in two categories (Excel 2013 and Excel 2016).
Other winners were: Samuel Adeniyi, Valencia College, Ibadan (Second, Word 2013); Ifeoluwa Ale of Grace High School, Gbagada (second, Word 2016); Rotimi Daniel of Covenant University (third, Word 2016); Ogon Holdings, Federal University of Technology Akure (First, Excel 2016); Israel Adeyemi, The Ambassadors College, Ota (third, Excel 2016); and Wakili Hamza, Glisten Academy Abuja (third, PowerPoint 2016).
Mrs Adebayo Victoria, a teacher of Faith Academy Ota, said participating in the competition had helped pupils in her school to be resilient, courageous and self-reliant, adding that “the pupils are able to see beyond what the walls of the classroom can teach them.
