1st November, 2021
By Isa Isawade
Secondary school students across Nigeria and Nigerian pupils in diaspora are to participate in an essay competition termed ‘Presidential Advocacy Essay’ which will see the top three going home with millions of naira.
The essay competition, billed for November 1 to November 30, 2021, is the brain child of the Citizens Intervention & Accountability Network (CIAN) as part of its programmes toward reducing the alarming figure of out-of-school children in the country.
The concept, according to the rights group, is also to give young people the opportunity to have a say in selection of the country’s leadership for a secure future for their generation.
To this end, a media briefing was held in Lagos on Friday to roll out the programme with many pupils and their teachers from high schools in Lagos in attendance.
During his welcome address at the event, CIAN Committee Director of Information & Strategy Dr. Candyfidel Onwuraokoye, lamented the many crises bedeviling the education sector in Nigeria which he said were the motivation behind the project.
The highlighted crises include infrastructural decay, government neglect, poor teacher-student ratio, economic woes, inadequate facilities and poor conditions of service. These factors, he maintained, were the reasons over 13.2 million children are out of school in Nigeria.
According to him, these children who roam the streets to make a living from begging, hawking and other forms of child labour “have been denied of a future they could have for themselves, their families, their communities and their country”.
He frowned at the Federal Government’s apparent lack of seriousness towards delivering qualitative education to Nigerians as, he informed, only 5.7% of the 2021 national budget was allocated to education. This was against the UNESCO’s recommendation of 26%.
He concluded that CIAN planned to undertake the advocacy essay with a view to “mainstreaming the plight of 13.2 million out-of-school children, in addition to giving young people the opportunity to advocate leadership that will represent and champion their interests as well as one that will lead the much-awaited charge on Nigeria’s Education Development Agenda”.
According to organizers of the competition, 3 Presidential Advocates will emerge at the final stage. The three will be allowed to present their papers in February 2022 at the CIAN national civic project tagged ‘Nigeria’s Next President’ in Abuja where 1st position will go home with a cash prize of N1m, 2nd position gets N700,000.00, while the 3rd winner will get N500,000.00.
While explaining procedures for the competition, Committee Director of Project, Mr. Samson Abraham Ayefu said all school children across Nigeria from JSS1 to SSS3 are eligible to participate wherein 6 winners will emerge from the first stage. The six will go to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja for the second stage.
“To participate in the advocacy project, eligible students will have to go to CIAN’s website at www.thecian.org to create a profile and submit their advocacy essay in a typed format, preferably in a Microsoft Word file and paste or attach it on an entry form provided on the organisation’s webpage. Essay must be between 500 and 800 words”, Ayefu informed.
He added that CIAN would use criteria such as grammar, usage, mechanical accuracy, style and organization to select the six winners who would proceed to Abuja for the second stage which would be a paired debate.
“In view of fair play, the debate which is planned to increase momentum for the advocacy pitch is intended to eliminate any possible bias that could plague the essay submission process in terms of plagiarism, impersonation and activities of mercenary writers”, Ayefu explained.
Submitted essay must be original to the entrant. These, according to the organizers, is the reason for the debate during which the successful essayists will defend authorship of their essays.