One Day Gov Wants To Be Actress

Sixteen-year old Miss Lilian Ogbuefi, a Senior Secondary School 3 student of Lagos State Senior Model College, Kankon in Badagry West Local Government Area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, who emerged as One Day Governor-elect says she wants to be an actress.

Ogbuefi emerged winner of the Spelling Bee competition after defeating 57 other contestant to become One Day Governor in the waiting. The Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Lagos Government Secretariat, venue of the event Wednesday, was filled to capacity as the students slugged it out among themselves to become the next One Day Governor-elect.

An overwhelmed Ogbuefi said she would like to study Mass Communication in the University, saying that she would prefer to be an actress after her graduation.

Ogbuefi said she did not envisage winning the competition as she was unable to memorise all the words required to be the best.

“Am so excited, I didn’t really believe I was going to win. I was kind of scared, and I was not fully prepared because I only memorised like 16 letters, but God was on my side and the prayers by my mummy saw me through.

“I didn’t know about three of the words but some words have tricks to which they can be spelt. Most French words end in letter ‘e’ and Greek words that sound like letter ‘f’ are spelt with ‘ph’, that was how I was able to spell them,” she said.

Ogbuefi commended her teachers for the coaching and the New Era Foundation for establishing the Spelling Bee competition for educational development in the state. She said the competition has impacted tremendously in the development of the students and engaging them on healthy competition.

Ogbuefi showed composure and confidence as she spelt all the words thrown at her by the quiz master on her first try, a feat that will see her reign as the 12th One Day Governor of Lagos State and 6th female to emerge winner, later in the year.

For winning the competition, Ogbuefi was presented with a trophy and a cash prize of N250,000 as well as several cartons of Honeywell Noodles, one of the major sponsors of the competition. Ireti Ogedengbe of Oke-Afa Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, Ejigbo and Chibueze Jonathan of Sanya Senior Grammar School, Ijeshatedo came second and third and won trophies along with N150,000 and N100,000 respectively.

Former Commissioner for Education, Dr. Leke Pitan, at the event said the Spelling Bee competition had made tremendous impact since its first edition in 2001, adding that with what is happening through the competition, many parents would consider withdrawing their children from private schools into public schools. Also, Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye described the competition as a motivation for those who did not win to go back and study hard in order to win future competition.

“This is healthy competition, there is always another time for others who did not win, but somebody has got to win,” she stated.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga