By Felix Khanoba
Three students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), have emerged winners of the 2020 edition of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) annual essay competition in Nigeria.
This was made known in a statement from the office of the Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mallam Farouk Salim, made available to newsmen in Abuja.
The statement named the winners as James Ibe-Akunna, who came top with 66.31percent, Eze Harrison Ebuka, 65.50percent and Eze Samson Somtochukwu 65.47percent.
Two other essays from Evan-Ibe Sobechi and Offor Christopher completed the five entries presented by Nigeria to ARSO for the continental competition.
According to the statement, the theme for this year’s edition of the competition was ‘The Role of Standardisation in Resolving and Addressing the Socio-Economic Issues for the Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons and Creating Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa.’
Speaking on the competition, the SON boss expressed hope that some of the five entries from Nigeria would be among the final winners at the continental version of the competition.
Salim, who congratulated the winners for the feat, enjoined all undergraduates in tertiary institutions in Nigeria to participate in future editions of the competition to further spread the gospel of standardisation and deepen the understanding of its potential for value addition to lives, the economy and the environment.
The SON Chief Executive expressed appreciation to the inter-ministerial screening committee responsible for the collation, assessment and scoring of the essays.
The AUTHORITY reports that a total of 43 essays were received from eleven government approved tertiary institutions out of which forty-one met the requirement for assessment.
