By Felix Khanoba
The Proprietor/President of Cradle 2 Harvard International School, Abuja, Mr Phrank Shaibu, says the 2022 Queen Commonwealth Essay competition will boost literary skills of Nigerian students and bring out the best in them.
Shaibu, stated this at the official launch and public presentation of the essay competition, which was hosted by Cradle 2 Harvard International School, on Friday in Abuja.
He said : “We are excited to be here, we are excited to host this event, that is the flag off and official launch of the 2022 Commonwealth Essay competition organised by the Queen of England.
“It is an interesting one because of I am a linguistic activist who turned a school proprietor or school president as my kids fondly called me.
” We elected to host this event because of my love for writing, my love for education and I believe we should be at the forefront in salvaging our educational system.
” It is an annual event across the 54 commonwealth nations in the world, and this particular edition’s topic is ‘Our Commonwealth’, and it is meant to bring out the best in the literary skills and abilities in children across the Commonwealth nations. So what it does, is that it encourages them, it fosters bonding, it encourages writing skills and improvement in literay writing.”
Speaking further, the Kogi State-born Shaibu, expressed concerns on the appalling state of education in the country, which has given rise to education tourism that is taking a toll on the already weak Nigerian economy.
“I have seen the state of our educational system, particularly as it relates to what we call educational tourism, and I believe it is an opportunity for us, particularly myself to say look, we need to be at the forefront in rescuing our educational system.
“I keep saying it, if you notice, we have over 215 universities in Nigeria and the carrying capacity of our universities is not more than 225,000 . If you have 225,000 carrying capacity of students per year, when students write the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examination, you have over 1,000,900 (sic) students who write JAMB every year and the carrying capacity of our schools is just 225,000, what that means is that there is danger.
” Danger, because we need to improve our infrastructure so that we can accommodate more kids. We have over 1,675,000 kids roaming the streets and that will breed insecurity, inadequacy and couple with lack of self-confidence, poor image perception and unhealthy identification, that is why we have the problem of security challenges in the country and that is why we say the only way we can mitigate and stop insecurity in Nigeria is to first deal with the issue of education,” Shaibu posited.
On his part, the Country Director, Royal Commonwealth Society, Nigeria Branch, Mr Blackson Olaseni Bayewumi, said the essay competition was the oldest international writing competition for schools with thousands of young people participating annually, adding that this year’s event is to also mark the 70th years anniversary (on the throne) of Queen Elizabeth II.
“Today event is in two in one, we are publicly launching the 2022 edition of the Queen Commonwealth Essay competition for schools in Nigeria for them to join their colleagues in the Commonwealth to participate in the essay competition. The winner will be invited to the Palace in London for a one week event that will culminate in award ceremony at the Palace in London and a lot of certificates will be given……
“Secondly, we are celebrating her Majesty platinum jubilee. Her Majesty is not just the Queen of England or United Kingdom, She is the head of commonwealth.” Blackson said.
On the ongoing strike rocking public universities in the country, Blackson called on Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to urgently strike a deal to end the industrial dispute in order not to further endanger the future of Nigerian children.
“On behalf of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Nigeria branch, I am appealing to the Federal Government of Nigeria and ASUU to go back to the negotiating table and resolve the matter,” he said.
Also speaking at event, the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Gill Atkinson, who was thrilled by the performance of Cradle 2 Harvard International School, commended the students, saying, “You are the future of Nigeria and the Commonwealth and with what I have seen today, Nigeria is in safe hands.”
Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Kevin Tokar, representatives of ministers of education, foreign affairs, women’s affairs and other several diplomats from Commonwealth nations at the event, also expressed delight over the essay competition and heaped praise on the organisers for promoting education of children.
The AUTHORITY reports that the Queen Commonwealth Essay competition is sub-divided into two categories; Junior Category for students from 14 years and below and Senior Category – 14 years -18 years while entries to this year’s competition will close on 30 June, 2022.
